The right place at the right time

It's 6 AM, and where are my retreat friends? Most people know that I go to bed early, but I've been known to stay up later -- I just don't always say that. But I'm pretty consistent on when I get up. Last night, I was working on something (you'll see it later today) that needed to be done, so I stayed up a bit later than usual. As a matter of fact, I was the one that closed the call last night. 

And then I was up early this morning and have already got a lot of work done. I don't think those retreat ladies are up yet! 

So my nose behaved yesterday but felt all stuffed up. I'm still stuffed up today, but it's probably no wonder with all the dust in Studio B. Let's see how the day goes, and I'm trying to keep myself hydrated!

Lexi was so cute yesterday morning. Halloween decorations are appearing, and those giant inflatables are interesting. As we were walking down the street, I spotted something that made me wonder how the girls would react. When Murphy and I passed, she stopped and barked. Of course, that is Murphy. 

But when Lexi and I approached, this was her reaction. 

MOM -- something scary!

Oh my gosh --- I was killing myself laughing. It's like Lexi was trying to hide behind the tree. And she gave those little AARF barks that she does, not the big throaty ones we get from Murphy! 

And what had them so worked up? A giant inflated cat whose head turned from side to side. 

MEOW!!!!

She warmed up to it and even got close enough to sniff it. That's my Lexi -- EVERYTHING must be sniffed. 

WAIT -- it's a FAKE cat!

Later in the afternoon, I walked to the mall, and there was good progress on the new Cineplex building. But no work has been done on the inside yet, so it'll still be a while before we can go. Wouldn't it be nice if it were done in time for our annual Christmas Day movie date? We could even WALK there! Well, I could walk; DH will take the car!

Progress on the movie theatre

Let's get down to some talk about quilting. We had THREE very successful classes yesterday. The first one was on Pre-Cuts -- what are they? How to work with them? Why do we have a love/hate relationship with them? While the group does not have to make a quilt (yet!), they have homework, and it's tough. Some of them will find it very hard to do, so let's see how brave they are!

Then in the Scrap class, we had a blast as we checked out some areas of concern in sewing spaces. Oh boy --- some of them, well, they will be a challenge. So again, they don't have to make a quilt (yet), but almost all of them have massive amounts of homework ahead of them! 

And the last class was the table runner class, where the focus was on choosing quilting designs. I should post those pictures at some point. I'm so happy with the work the students are doing. This is one of those classes (well, all classes are like this), but the more you do, the better you get. And they are ALL doing the most fantastic job. KUDOS to everyone! 

It's all about taking the tools you have, learning to use them, and improving your skills. I have one more session this morning -- Out of the Box and NOPE -- the presentation isn't done. I haven't even started, but it's at 10 AM, so there's loads of time to get that prepped. Besides, I had other stuff to do this morning. 

I sometimes sit in front of a Zoom meeting and have nothing to do, and I know many people do handwork. I have a small Sue Spargo kit that I thought would be fun to work on. So off to the project closet to find it. I'm not sure where that went, and it's small. I will find it, but in the meantime, I found this hand-quilting project. It's a panel about 12" by 18", with the quilting motif stamped on it. I could do this -- it would be perfect. 

OK -- so where's the thread? There was no needle or thread with it. I dug out my hand quilting thread, and OH BOY -- none of them matched the weight of the thread I initially used. 

Thread weight is NOT the same

 

The original thread seems thicker -- it's the one on top. So I'm tempted to use one of the others and keep going. Or should I rip out what I've done and start over? I haven't done much, so catching up wouldn't take long. My thought is to do some with the different threads and see if there's a difference before I start to rip out the other part. 

Only a small portion has been quilted

Knowing me, I'll have to rip it out. I know -- I can't help myself!!!

So this is what has been waiting for me to work on for weeks, and I've ignored it until the last possible moment. It's a customer quilt, and I owe the owner a HUGE favor. 

Customer quilt

She is new to quilting and had issues with the piecing, where one of the rows was almost two inches shorter than the others. Yep, the seam allowance is the first thing one checks, and honestly, it appears equal across that row. This stumped me, so I did some finagling last night and strategically added two inches to the row. If I didn't tell you, you would never know. 

But as I stood there looking at the quilt to ensure that I was adding the last two rows in the correct spot, I realized that FOUR blocks within the quilt were rotated. ACK!!!!! 

Usually, I wouldn't be piecing or fixing a customer quilt, but as mentioned, I owe her a big favor, and all the turned blocks were in the same row, so this is what I did last night. I removed the part of the row that was incorrect. 

Surgery on a quilt top

Then I took the blocks apart and put them in the proper orientation. Like a busy beaver, I was up this morning and got the entire quilt back together, and it's lying over the ironing board as it needs to be pressed. 

The quilt top is in one piece

The backing is loaded on the long arm, and my goal is to get it quilted today, so I can put the binding on it tomorrow, and it will be gifted this coming weekend. Yikes!!!

So you all know I'm trying to get rid of most of my stuff. Yes -- even my quilting stuff. Well, in a strategic way, and indeed, I'm not just giving stuff away, but you never know when an opportunity will arise. And I will say that I would NEVER have considered doing this in the past. 

During our Virtual Retreat last night, we got talking about GO! Cutters and the Qubes. Someone has several of the Qubes, and she uses them! I have a 6" set, which she did not have. Guess what? I gave it away! It was a mistake that I received the darn thing. Several years ago, GO! told me I was one of their ambassadors, and the next day, they realized that I was NOT an ambassador, so to compensate me for the mistake, they sent me the Qube set. 

6" Block GO Qube

Not only did I get the Qube set for the 6" blocks, but I was also given the Companion set. 

Companion Set

Both boxes are now sitting in the staging area in my living room. The cellophane is still on both boxes -- they have never been opened. 

A present for someone

I would not feel right selling those as they were given to me. So they will now go to a good home where they will be used. 

When I went to take a picture of the shelf this morning, I found this book. The book goes along with the Qubes!!

A pattern book for the GO! Qube

And now I have some space on that shelf. I could tuck more stuff in there to get it out of the way. I play Tetris with my space and if I can put a labeled box in there to take something else off that current project table or to bring something from upstairs down here, then so be it!! 

Room on the shelf!

So you never know what can happen. I will never give away something just because someone wants it. But if I know someone will actually use it, and I will never use it, then I'm happy to part with it - either selling it or giving it away, depending on the item and how I acquired it. It's all about paying forward, and that's how it goes!! I hate to say this, but some people will appreciate a gesture like this, and others will not. I will NOT give things to those who won't appreciate them! 

It was definitely a Win-Win for both of us!

Well, I see it's time to go. I'll post more information about my classes at Stitch by Stitch in Kingston tomorrow morning, but there are two for Husqvarna Viking -- Beyond the Basics with Quilting and a second one for embroidery. On day two, there's a beyond the basics with Quilting for PFAFF and then a discussion on mySewnet and all that it entails. So be sure to check out the calendar to get more details. 

And today, starting at Noon, is Virtual Retreat. Be sure to stop by -- we met Debbie from Victoria last night, and she's working on many cool projects!!!

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81693717518?pwd=STNoVVQzbDd4ZnROQndNNlpvcC90QT09 Meeting ID: 816 9371 7518 Passcode: 579285

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Are you superstitious?

 I am not a superstitious person per se. However, I think about all those things that you are not supposed to do, like walking under ladders, what to do if a black cat crosses your path, and everything to do with the number 13! I don't avoid that kind of stuff, but it crosses my mind. More on that in a minute. 

I had a very bizarre presentation yesterday. It was on Zoom, all the participants were in the store, and they never opened the camera link, so I had ZERO connection with any of them, including the store owner. We had to wait as they had a technical glitch, and with a number of them talking in the background, it was tough to hear, and let's not forget that it was in French. 

No questions, no feedback whatsoever! I need to have a chat with the shopowner today to see if we can fix that! It made me nervous, and I stumbled with my French. It was very unnerving, and I may have ended up talking to myself for an hour! Sigh.................

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Facebook? I don't get a chance to post every day -- I try, but some days, well, it just doesn't happen. But what I love the most are the groups! Not only do I get to stay in touch with the groups that I have created for my classes, but it's a learning tool! 

I've got a couple of unusual quilts that need to be quilted, and I had no idea how to do that. Well, I asked my Facebook group, and I got answers. I don't have enough experience with unusual stuff on the long arm to know these tricks, but I'm learning, and the people in the group have been amazing and patient!

People are posting educational stuff in one group, and I need to carve out some time to learn it.! My long arm can do so much, and I have only skimmed the surface of that software! I have a whole pile of my quilts to experiment on! 

I sorted samples that had been strewn around Studio B, and they were put away. More samples need to be made, so there is loads of stuff to embroider hanging around, but if I put it away, I'll forget it! I spent some time doing paperwork, and I almost have the urgent stuff out of the way, but I need to spend this morning at the computer to get a couple more things done. 

I'm also cleaning up the work tables as I need the space to put up more machines. All in a day's work! 

Between sample making, and learning which goes hand in hand, I could be busy 24/7!!

I did get some sewing done, which was great, but I can't share it with you. The students get to see it first, and then I'll have show and tell this weekend. 

But I did work on the border of one of my quilts. 

The border for All in a Row

This border is for my All in a Row quilt. The top and bottom borders are on the quilt, and I've meant to lay out the side borders forever! Now that I had plenty of space, it was easy to lay out the quilt to measure it and get the correct length. Then super easy to layout and glue these pieces in place. 

I made significant progress on that cutting table this week, and I hope to continue this afternoon. I have three classes this weekend, plus the Virtual Retreat. So I feel that I can make excellent progress on clearing up some stuff and get that table 100% clear. Wish me luck!!

Never mind the enormous stack of paper that's on the floor beside me that needs to be dealt with! Yes -- I know I have my little storage shelf, but well -- I need lots of room to spread out, and to do that in the office, I need to completely clear the table or the second desk. There are too many things to do to make that happen! I could pile the stuff into a box and deal with it later? I may just do that, so I can get a better handle on the day-to-day stuff. 

Or I'll just try to get back into spending the morning in the office and the afternoon downstairs. That's hard to do with my presentations, as those take priority regardless of the time of day. Oh boy-- I'd better enjoy the downtime right now because I just realized that starting November 1, I have TEN presentations in one week. Yikes -- how did that happen??? 

That means that for all of November, I'll be doing TEN per week. Thank goodness, I'm at the end of the ongoing classes, so I'll focus on the presentations. And thankfully, the prep work for most of them is complete!

OK -- so back to the superstitions. I was quilting another quilt yesterday. I'm trying to get that pile done. As of yesterday morning, there were 13 quilts left to quilt. One per day - in less than two weeks, that can be cleared up! Right? So the 13th quilt was on the long arm. I'm at the sewing machine, and I can hear a BAD noise. Oh no - I dropped everything and ran. And this is what I found. 

OH!

This is NOT good. Thankfully, I was close by, but there was an open seam in the quilt, and the foot just happened to be going in the opposite direction. It was jammed very tight, even though I got there pretty quick. The machine doesn't know that there's a problem, so it just keeps on trying to quilt. I released the long arm and got out the seam ripper. This wasn't even a question of ripping out the stitches; it was trying to delicately slice the stitches out of the quilt without creating a lot of damage to the quilt. 

After I freed the machine, I looked at the damage. Sigh............  I was able to fix the top so that if you didn't know what had happened, it would take a lot of searching to find this. That open seam will have to be hand-stitched in place. There's a small hole in the top - it's more like the fabric fibers have separated rather than a hole. But there's a hole in the back. I'll applique some of the extra backing fabric over that hole. Unsewn seams are NOT my responsibility. 

The damaged area

This has only happened twice in my longarm career. The first time, I happened to be standing at the machine waiting for the bobbin to run out and caught the machine pretty much right away, but there was still a hole created in that quilt. So if you are taking your quilt to a long arm quilter, or even one that you are quilting yourself, make sure that you close all the seams up when you are fixing a problem! I know it happens. This quilt will survive in the grand scheme of things, and no one will be the wiser that this happened. I do have to laugh because when this happens, it's always with a backing that is light in color and monochromatic, so a patch will show more than if the print was busy! 

And it just so happened that the pattern I used was a bit denser than I usually choose! Of course, it was! But the quilt turned out beautifully! Now to get trimming!!

Customer Quilt - DONE

Oh shoot -- I went to order the Cherrywood Challenge book - Diana, and they are NOT shipping to Canada. DRAT!!!!  I need to find someone to whom I can send the book, so they can, in turn, ship it to me. Yes - I know the shipping to Canada will be expensive, but the store that sells the Cherrywood challenges is NOT ordering the books. If only I were going to the Quilt Festival, which I wouldn't dream of at the moment! Of course, I'll pay for the shipping to Canada!

Anyway - it's time to get the day started. I must NOT try to learn something new before going to bed as that keeps me awake, and then I get up late!

Don't forget the Virtual REtreat is this weekend. Here are the links. 

Saturday, October 23   From 6 PM - 9 PM

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89254233911?pwd=VGQrTnFybW1HMWpleHA4M2Q2NGVwZz09 Meeting ID: 892 5423 3911 Passcode: 982797

Sunday, October 24, From 10 AM - 9 PM)

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87246635892?pwd=VGY1cUUyLzRaRi9VUVV2ZWFINXc2dz09 Meeting ID: 872 4663 5892 Passcode: 440473

 

Oh -- has anyone used the link at the top of the blog to get the blog via e-mail? Someone was having trouble with it, and I must confess that I don't know much about it. There are other ways to get the blog. You can use Bloglovin, which will e-mail you the blog every day. You've got to indicate which blogs you want to follow, and it sends you a daily e-mail. 

Have a super day!!!

Cio!!!!

What was lost is now found!

We had a great UFO session in the morning! More details on that later this week.

After the group left, I made my lunch and went out to sit in the gazebo. I know - that was the kiss of death for me.

I abandoned all plans to do some work inside. It was so nice - I was outside in a T-shirt and I was warm. I couldn't let that opportunity pass me by. I was going to work on my laptop but I didn't.

Instead, I plugged in my audiobook and grabbed my chair. But not before I grabbed this as well.

So this is a quilt top that I made in my early twenties. All the roses are done with liquid embroidery. The cotton on the painted squares isn't that great of quality and there is a lot of deterioration on the hand embroidered squares.  I believe the blue fabric is polyester.

I took out all the quilting when we were on our road trip to Nashville. But the top has sat around since then. So I got out my trusty seam ripper and I was off to the gazebo.

Quilt top being disassembled

Why am I taking it apart? It's a queen sized quilt and I used to have it on my bed. I know I had a picture around here somewhere and my dog at the time used to sit on it so he could look out the window. Check out this blog post where I talk about ripping the quilt apart and check the date!!!  There's also a picture of the dog sitting on the quilt.

I'm going to salvage the good squares. They will be reinforced with a thin stabilizer on the back and the quilt will be put back together again. This time with cotton and hopefully I can get a lap quilt out of it. I think those squares are worth saving. They are a style of quilting that we did back then and well - I want it!!

But the moment I put it on the floor of the gazebo to take a picture, guess what happened? I had helpers. Instantly! Now how do they know that?

Thanks, Mom!!!

Yep - dirty feet and all!

And when I tried to get her off without dragging her off and damaging the quilt more - this is the sass that I got.

Ah no - I'm not getting off and not sharing!

Silly girl!! I did manage to get her off and shoo both of them out of the gazebo, but let's just say that they are Mom's girls.

I managed to get all the rows taken apart. There is more ripping to do, but that's all I got done and I'm pretty happy with my progress. Hopefully, the next part won't take that long. Then the squares will be soaked to clean them up - well those that I rescue. Then to find some new fabric and sew it back together again.

Needless to say, it won't be assembled the same way that I originally sewed it together. Actually, now that I think of it - this quilt did see a repair job a while back. I'm not sure when that happened or why. The dog probably ate a hole in it or something.

I must have used the shortest stitch length on the machine (or so it seemed) and all the seams were pressed open. ACK!!! It wasn't fun to rip that apart.

Seams pressed open

While I was in the gazebo, I checked my e-mail and oh shoot, someone sent me a reminder of something they wanted to look at. Instead of waiting, I popped downstairs to get the tool immediately as I knew that I would forget.

I wasn't a 100% sure where it was, but I looked in the logical spot and there it was. But before I found the tool, I was looking deep into this corner.

The pegboard with tools

OH MY GOD --- look what I found!!!!  There are my TWO STUFFING FORKS. I was pretty darn sure that I had bought those - I remember the diamonds on the packaging and the handles. But I had no idea where they were. Now I know!! I still have a couple of geckos to stuff and I want to try them out!

Stuffing forks

Yahoo!!!!  So while I didn't get any work done that I was supposed to be doing, I did get something accomplished. And yes - I finished the audiobook, but it was in the wee hours of the night when I couldn't sleep.

I'm blogging this week on QUILTsocial. It's all about machine quilting this week. Loads of great tips.

It's Monday sewing and I'm excited although I can't stay long today as I have a couple of commitments. And I'm hoping to order the new floor for the basement today. Yeah!!!!

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

Have a super day!!

Ciao!

It's GONE!

Do we get more predictable as life goes on?  I try not to be - I like to vary up the routine, but I really really like to try and get the blog posted BEFORE 9 AM every day. Some days - well that doesn't happen!  

I had the BEST weekend EVER!!!!   I sewed all day Saturday and I sewed until 2 PM on Sunday. Lexi and I went to the dog park both days and I went to the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild yesterday afternoon.  And way ahead of schedule, I got a ton of pictures edited for QUILTsocial. 

There was a bit of traffic on the way to the guild meeting, so I figured the parking lot by the Workroom would be full.  I decided to park in a Green P lot.  As I was standing by the pay machine, a couple walked by and asked if I wanted to use their ticket which was good until 6 PM.  Ah - SURE!   (Even though I know technically that's not allowed - why not?)   So I parked for free.   Thanks to whoever you were that passed along that ticket!

I had to laugh because the program at the meeting was your best tip!  And the power of suggestion was very strong as Rebecca had written "bring your best tip"  and she mentioned binding as well as one other item in her blurb.  It appeared that most people came prepared with binding tips!  Including me.  Granted once we got on a roll, tips were flying left and right in the room - it was great.  As much as I'm comfortable with my binding method, I did learn one little trick that I think will be quite useful and I shall have to incorporate that into my technique.  Nothing earth shattering but still useful. 

There were some tips about putting the binding on by machine that I didn't really get - I need visuals. I'll try to remember who it was that offered the tip and get a better description.  All in all it was a great meeting. 

But the best news of the day is that the quilt repair is GONE!!!!   The owner came and picked it up just after dinner and he was thrilled.  I'm thrilled so it was a WIN WIN.  

Can you spot the repairs?

There were about 12 patches put on the front (even fancy ones that were half burgundy and half cream) and three places where I had to stitch up the seam that had come undone.

Can you see them now??

I'm sure that if you didn't know the quilt had been repaired - you wouldn't notice.  That's what I was aiming for. Yes - you can find them if you look, but for some of them, you'll have to look really really close.

And then there was the back - again about 12 patches.

Can you spot the patches?

If you look close in the picture below, you can see a couple of them.

Patches?  What patches???

Again - big thanks to Joyce for the matching fabric and thank god for a great stash so I was able to find something that blended in with the other fabrics.

Let's not forget that the binding was taken off, the chewed edges were trimmed away and the binding was put back on.  Then I had to resew the label on the back.

But it's DONE DONE DONE!!!!!!  and GONE!

Because that monkey was off my back and I found a way to kill two birds with one stone - this weekend was the best sewing weekend, I've had in ages!!!!  I can hardly wait to do it all again this coming weekend!

You'll have to wait to see what I did. It's all going to go live on QUILTsocial starting the week of September 26th. I can hardly wait to show you!


On that note - I'm out of here!

Have an awesome day!

Ciao!

Why do people blog?

Isn't that an interesting question?   Why do people blog?  I spend some time (not as much as I would like) perusing other people's blogs.  Some I never go back to, some I subscribe to or add to my BlogLovin' account so I can stay in touch with the bloggers.  And I HATE bloggers that only blog when they are part of some blog hop.  What's the point?  The point is to gain readers - not just be part of giving prizes away! GRRRR!  Pick me for the blog hops!  I never advertise - so that won't happen. 

Here is a blog that I found yesterday asking the same question. Why do people blog??   Have a read through it.  It's very interesting. 

My first blog post was posted way way back in 2008 or something like that.  I'll have to find the link to it because I did change the site after I had some difficulties with it. 

But why do I personally blog?  Not for you!  Nope - I really really think the blog is for me - after all - it's all about me (well mostly!)   It helps me to get my work done. I feel very accountable to the blog for posting pictures of finished items. Otherwise what is my incentive to get something done?  To prance around the house and shout to myself - "the project is done?"   What's the fun in that?  So if I shout to the internet and at least one person sees it - that's way more than will see it at home. 

But seriously, my lists are great and they work, but the blog is a HUGE incentive to get things done!  Besides I need blogging material and if that isn't enough incentive to get work done - I don't know what is!!!!

Speaking of which - a HUGE HUGE HUGE cheer went up in my house (OK - it was a silent one, but it was HUGE nevertheless).  Yes the quilt repair is DONE DONE DONE!!!!   And even if there is one or two holes that I missed - it is DONE!  I'm very happy with the results and as I said yesterday, I had a very hard time trying to count the number of patches because they blended in so well.  A HUGE thanks to Joyce for having that same fabric in her stash!!! And people want to give their "old" fabrics away.  Do you see why I hang onto everything?????   You never know when it will come in handy!

Speaking of other people's blogs - I just happened to find a new one this morning. Well - it's not new, but I haven't been reading it and well - it's pretty funny.  I think you should follow it - or at least read this story.   It's from Mary Fons. And it's funny!  I may just have to add Mary's blog to my links. 

Mary Fons - next post

Mary Fons - next post

Mary FOns - next post

Mary FOns - next post

Mary FOns - next post

And before I go, I have to mention this. As much as I try to keep up in the quilting world, I'm clueless. Totally clueless.  When I was at Spring Quilt Market, I met a very fun designer - Marcia Derse,  The reason her booth caught  my eye - she had a gorgeous Alphabet panel that I adore (and bought at Sample Spree)  and I love the art journals that she creates and when I grow up someday - I want to make art journals like she does.  But I had never heard of Marcia. 

alphabet studio by Marcia Derse

Then when I was at a workshop in July, I was looking over what everyone brought to the workshop. And one lady was using some cool fabrics that were scraps from a Marcia Derse collection. I can't remember the story about how she had acquired them, but in no way did this lady look like she would use these funky fabrics.   The quilting world is changing!  I'd better hang on and jump in!!!!

So I was browsing the Sept/October issue of Cloth paper scissors and guess who I saw???  Yep - a feature on Marcia Derse and then an article that she wrote.  I so want to do those art journals that she does. 

Marcia Derse in Cloth Paper Scissors

Well that's enough babbling!

I'm out of here to try and have a productive day and I can't wait to get home because then I can do WHATEVER I want in the studio. Actually, I have a bit of tidying to do.  It's a mess and then I want to dive right into some quilting.  I'm excited!  Is it 5 PM yet?

Have an awesome day!

Ciao!!!!

PS -  I can't seem to find the name of the vacuum store who fixed my vacuum.  More research required.

It's a good news/bad news kind of day

Yes - it was a good news/bad news kind of day yesterday.

The first piece of bad news is that I'm NOT done the repairs on the quilt.  Partly because the job is boring, there are so many patches to be made, I'm slow, and I'm watching episodes of Season 6 of Modern Family while I'm doing it!  And the bad news with Modern Family is that I'm half way through the 5th last episode (of 24) and the screen goes blank. That was enough for me - I was out of there!  I'll try again tonight to see what happens with the disk.

The good news is that I'm almost done with the repairs and for real this time! There are SIX patches left to sew on the back of the quilt - SIX!!!!  The other good news is that the patches are made and just need to be sewn on. Then the label needs to be sewn on and I'm done!!!!   That is very good news, but the news will be even better when the repair is out of my house!   I think I ended up putting 15 on the front (so well done - they do NOT pop out - it was hard to count them,  resewed three seams and about 15 patches on the back!)

Patches on the quilt back

There is a lot of stuff sitting here staring at me, but I refuse to get sidetracked on anything in the event that I'll stop working on the quilt repair.  Now if I could only keep that same focus going forward. There are oodles of things sitting here that need an hour or two at the most and they would be done!  Where's that list of mine???  That priority list is working - well I'm getting better at making it work.  The hard thing is the volume - there is just so much - it's hard to choose what to do.  Do you finish a bunch of small unimportant things - just to get them done?  Or do you work on advancing those with deadlines???  See what I mean about prioritizing???  It's hard!


Another piece of good news yesterday.  I had gotten a call when I was away that my Rowenta cordless vacuum was ready for pickup.  We received this vacuum as part of a corporate event - it was one of the prizes or it was a door prize???  I don't exactly know, but I was pretty excited.  One because it was a Rowenta and second - it was a cordless vac - perfect for the studio.  I used it ONCE, recharged the battery and it would not longer work.  Since I've recharged batteries before, I was certain that I wasn't doing anything wrong.  I mean - just turn it on - right???

Finally decided it was time to get it fixed.  I went to the Rowenta web site and found the name of a local repair shop.  Took it in and was told (two days later) that the battery was shot.  OK - let's replace it.  No can do!  It's built in and can't be replaced.  That was the most crazy thing I had ever heard.  Do you know how expensive these vacs are ???  Close to $300!!!!   And the battery can't be replaced????

This bad news was delivered to me on the phone and at first, I was tempted to leave the vac at the shop for them to dispose of it. Then I thought - NO - Rowenta has a better name than that. I'm going to write them to see what can be done.

After several communications with someone at Rowenta, I was directed to ANOTHER dealer who was NOT on their web site. And told to NOT deal with the first guy as he was not an authorized dealer. Perhaps they should change that on their web site????

The good news is that the vacuum is FIXED.. Yes - the owner of the new place replaced the battery and the vacuum works like a charm.  I'm so excited - well as excited as one can get about a vacuum.  I'll post the store name tomorrow - I can't find it at the moment.  And imagine if I would have left the vacuum at the first store - he could have replaced the battery and then sold the vacuum - making money off of me!!!!!

Rowent Vaccuum

 This means that I don't have to drag the central vac over the stairs to vacuum the studio.  That is great news and I love the swivel head on this Rowenta.

Did I mention that even though I did not have a receipt and was well past the one-year warranty, that Rowenta covered the repairs.   Thank you ROWENTA!!!!!

And I had to learn how to spell vacuum.  Is that two c's or two u's?  I can never remember - That would be two U's!!!!

The other good news is that I'm not LATE!!!!!   You see, I needed to get the renewal sticker for my car.  Yes - it's been two years since I stood in line to get my sticker after missing the deadline. I was going to go this weekend, but DH says - just do it on-line.  Seriously????   And within TEN minutes from the comfort of my chair, I had renewed the sticker to my license plate.   It doesn't get much easier than that!!!!   And I have a paper to prove that it's updated in the event that I don't get my stickers on time.   Check it out - it was painless!!!!


I had to take a detour on my way home because of some paving of local streets.  Look what I saw sitting on the side of the road not far from my house.   Happy as a clam - watching people go by.  Not scared or shy at ALL!!!

Mr. Coyote

And with that - I'm out of here!  Perhaps I have to start using my time driving to and from work to set priorities for the quilting stuff?  Well I can contemplate what needs to be done, think of the pros and cons and then write it down when I get to my destination!  There are so many idiots on the road - on their phone and blowing through STOP signs.  I don't mean rolling stops - I mean BLOWING through at faster than the posted speed limit. The other night, I yelled (at the top of my lungs) at a man who didn't see me and Lexi as we were half way across an intersection and he was going to blow right by!  He stopped!  I hope I scared the crap out of him - but I doubt it. There is ZERO respect for STOP signs now - everyone is in too much of a hurry.  More people are going to get hurt or killed.  I'm almost afraid at night to cross this one residential street (right by the school) because  people blow through the STOP sign.

OK - now I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!

The last one - of course!

There was a pattern in a magazine that I wanted to get my hands on.  I knew how to make the pattern, but I wanted to review the instructions for an upcoming demo that I'm prepping. Fortunately, I knew the name of the magazine, but not which issue. All issues of this magazine (A Needle Pulling Thread) are in the same spot (or so I thought). I flipped through the first bundle. Nope. I flipped through the second bundle and I was hoping that I had not removed this particular issue and put it with some appropriate fabric.  But I perservered and yes - the pattern I sought was in the LAST magazine.  Why does that always happen???

I don't seem to be 100% recovered from my bike trip. I still feel tired in the morning, but I don't think this cold has completely gone away.  It's lurking - I can feel it this morning in my throat!  Just slightly scratchy so more sleep and more water.  All I can say is that our timing for the trip was PERFECT.  We had pretty decent weather - actually PERFECT weather. I heard yesterday that there is snow in Lake Louise, rain, cold - going through the mountains would have been a bit of a challenge!

You know how we never celebrate those little miracles - we tend to only complain about what we don't like?  Well - there are two small miracles that I'm very thankful for!


Row by row - yes - the summer is marching along, but that doesn't mean that we can't still be rowing!
Ronda and her daughter drove Route 66 - what a fun thing to do.  I could have gone with them but I already had plans!  Too bad!   But Ronda did make a few stops along the way and look what she picked up!!!!

Row by row across the US!

And I heard that there is another one coming from Marilyn that is in fact one of the ones I had hoped to get over the weekend, but could not get my hands on!    I really do have the best friends. A big big thank you to everyone who helped out with row by row!!!!   Can't wait to get started on a new project!

Looks like we have a collection thing about to happen.  Or is it not a collection until you have three???  Ronda picked up the tin on the right and guess who got me the tin on the left?  That was many years ago, but I use the tin - it's great for holding sewing supplies.

Commemorative tins

And a FQ of bike fabric

OK - I have to get this quilt repair finished. I think it is weighing heavily on my brain and that is helping to sap my energy.  I have other way more cool stuff to work on, but can't until this gets done.  I'm hoping one more evening will do the trick.

It's a challenge because there are many holes that need to be patched.   But I'm pleased with the results.  Have a look - can you see the two patches in this picture???  Yes - there is a needle stuck in one of the patches.

Spot the two patches!

 In some instances (many instances) I had to get creativel with the patches. I had to join the fabrics FIRST and then make the patches as the tear went across the seam.  There is an example below.

Creative patches

Except for the big spot, I think I have about 3 more patches for the front.  I'm afraid to check the quilt again - more and more just seem to pop up.  And then there are about 5 spots on the back that need a patch. Those patches should be easy to make.  Let's keep the fingers crossed that tonight is the end.


Well - I'm off.  A busy day - there is never an end to what needs to be done. I have oodles of sewing that needs to be done, but first, a bit of designing needs to happen.

Anyway - have a great day!!!!


Ciao!

Patched!

I wish I could report that the quilt repair is complete this morning, but alas - it is not. I didn't get one stitch in the darn thing over the last couple of days despite good intentions.

Let's start off by showing you a couple of things I got recently.  I found these magnets at Quilts at the Creek.  Some of the people who showed quilts were selling items. I love the fish one so now instead of saying OH CRAP - I can say OH CARP!  Sounds nicer!

Magnets

 And I picked up this postcard. Very cute and a good way to use up small odd blocks.

Post card

 And a novelty print that I HAD to have. Can you see what it is?

Novelty print

 Now let's look at that repair.

Can you see the rip in the lighter fabric?

There's a rip in the middle square

I hadn't really searched for a replacement fabric for this spot as I didn't realize there were tears in this one. I've since discovered a "few".

So I had to dig through my stash to see what I could find.  Of course, I didn't have the exact fabric, but found this one that works not bad.

"matching" fabric

 It was hard to match the background, never mind the green/burgundy on the background.

Then the big debate was how to patch. Honestly, it took me more time to find that fabric and mess around with what shape to make the patches than it did to make the patches.  At first, I was going to make a square, but that was very hard to make the square exactly the size needed. So I decided to make circles instead. Got out the Perfect Circle maker by Karen Kay Buckley and I was good to go.

Patch on the light

Patches on the burgundy and the multicolor print

They are just pinned for the moment, but once they are stitched in place, I don't think they will be noticeable. I've gone over half of the quilt, found 8 cuts/chews to be repaired and two seams that need to be restitched. I think one side was worse than the other and hopefully this was the worse side.  There is still the big repair on the other side to do and then a few spots on the back.

However I have to set it aside for a couple of weeks because I'm leaving today! Yep - that's why I couldn't squeeze in a couple of hours for the hand stitching. I had stuff to do for work that HAD to be done before I left and I had stuff that HAD to be done at home before I left and that left no time to complete the quilt. Oh well - it's not life or death, but I know the customer wants it back.  Two more weeks!

Where am I going? Well you'll just have to wait and see.  I'll be blogging so you'll be able to keep track of me.  Good luck with that as I can barely keep track of myself!  I was offering up some dates for teaching this fall and well - there weren't a lot of free dates. But that's OK because I LOVE what I do.  As much as I say that it would be nice to be at home and sew all day - I'd be bored by lunch time of the first day.  I need to be out and about, be with people - that's what makes me happy!

On that note, a few last minutes things to do and I'm gone!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Oh by the way, I think Lexi has a story for you today and don't forget QUILTSocial today.  You must check the QUILTSocial blog today - it literally will blow your socks off!!!!   I'm just blown away by that Designer EPIC.

State of affairs or should I say repairs!

Quilt repairs. Never a pretty sight. Takes a long time and no one likes to do it. Yet if the quilt is a treasured heirloom, well then repairs must be done.

I like the story of one quilt that I saw recently at Quilt Canada. It was a beautiful quilt. Red background, hand quilted and hand appliqued. It was HUGE.   The pattern is Aunt Millie's Garden by Piece 'O Cake.  

Aunt Millie's Quilt

But what is even more fun about this quilt is the story behind it.  Joan Dorsay is the maker of this particular quilt and here is her story.  Hopefully you can read it.  And check out the title - Not Now, Maybe Never.

Joan's story about her quilt

She did an amazing job and won a prize for her fabulous efforts.

First prize in her category

Exquisite workmanship

Do you agree with her?  Absolutely - 100%!   If someone I knew wanted a quilt and had pets - I'd made a quilt with 6 inch squares and an overall design. End of story!

Now let's have a look at the repair that I'm doing. I had removed the binding and time to trim.  There were about 5 or 6 spots along the edge that needed repairs. I wanted to trim them all away, but that would have cut too much of the border away.  I ended up trimming between 1/4" and 1/2" off the edge of the quilt and that eliminated all but one problem area. The border wasn't trimmed even the first time and that's why what I trimmed off was wonky, but the border is straight now!

What got trimmed away

The binding was only 2" wide which is too narrow for my liking, but NO CHOICE.  I took a much narrower seam than I normally do.

Sewing on the binding to the front of the quilt

Now here's that one spot that couldn't be fixed by trimming the quilt. You see that I would have had to trim another 1/2" off the border and that would have been too much just to fix one spot.

One area that still requires repair

The teeth marks are still in the batting!

I took a small scrap leftover from joining the binding and laid it underneath the tear in the top. Then a small bit of fusible on top of the scrap. Then it got ironed together.

Repairing the hole with fusible and a scrap

It's not perfect, but half of it will be covered by the binding and the rest of it is fused down so it shouldn't unravel. It's not a perfect fix, but if you didn't know there was a hole, you would never find it on this quilt.

The repair

Then back to sewing the binding on.  I turned the last corner and the big question was - did I have enough binding. I had to join the binding about 4 times (necessary because of holes in the binding). The quilt was smaller by a bit so it was a guessing game if there would be enough.

Sewing the last side

And this is how much I was short.  The distance between the arrows.

Short of binding

But WAIT!   There was one more small piece that I didn't join because it was only 8 inches or so. However it was necessary to use it.  It looks like it might just solve my binding shortage problem. The top arrows show the extra piece, the bottom arrows show what I need plus two joins.

One extra piece of binding - will it be enough?

Once I joined that piece and sewed it onto the quilt, I measured the overlap to make the final join.  NO WAY!!!!   It was a PERFECT fit.  Well I could have trimmed 1/8" off!!!!   That was just luck!  Absolute LUCK!

Just enough to make the final join!!!!

I did have backup fabric that I got from Joyce - just in case.  But it wasn't necessary for this part of the repairs.

Backup fabric

Then it was onto the hand stitching. My favourite thing. Don't get me wrong, I love hand stitching.  But this was a big quilt.  I decided to measure it so I could really appreciate the size. I'll tell you that number in one minute.

However, I decided that I didn't need to be quite so neurotic with my hand stitching and the bigger stitches (not so big, but bigger), are not noticeable and I was able to get TWO sides of the binding hand stitched down in ONE EVENING.  WOW - that's a record for me!!!

Contrasting thread - can you see the stitches????

Here is the back of the quilt. I laid it out to see how many holes went through the backing.  About three!

The back of the quilt

And in case you want to see the front - this is what it looks like.

The front of the quilt

Now how big is that quilt???   Any guesses?????  It's 106" square!!!!!   I know - I didn't realise that it was that big, but no problem  - I'm still good with my quoted time.  OK, maybe a bit more time to do this hand stitching than I originally estimated, but not much.  I'm good with that.  It's another good learning experience.


Don't forget to pop out to see the Quilts at the Creek this weekend.  And why not stop by at 2:30 for my walking tour.  Yes - it's going to be hot, so take it slow, drink lots of water, wear a hat. We're going to be fine!  

Speaking of the heat.  I'm at the gym this morning for a spin class, although I remember that often there isn't a class on Fridays during the summer. No worries - I need to get on the bike to loosen up my knee which is feeling pretty awesome these days.  Yep - no class. Oh boy - I've got to keep myself motivated for an entire hour with nothing - no music, no videos, no one to chat to.  I'm by myself in a room with 70 spin bikes. So I rely on the numbers.  Can I crank out 30 K in 60 minutes?   That's 1 KM every two minutes.  I didn't start out that way so once I figured I could do it, I had to hustle to catch up to myself. And yes - I did cycle 30 KM in 60 minutes.  I was hot, sweat was pouring off me and my face was like a tomato (that's normal for me) and I accomplished what I wanted.  All in preparation of being outdoors this weekend in the heat!

On that note, have an awesome day!

Ciao!