On being patriotic

I flossed TWICE and brushed once! Actually, that wasn't so bad. I have a bunch of those flossers, and they are mint (I found them in my floss stash), and if I keep them by the computer, I can quickly floss after breakfast, get rid of the excess seeds from my oatmeal, and that should keep the dentist and Vanessa happy! 

Six weeks for it to become a habit? OK -- we have to make a valiant effort here, as I know it is better for me. 

It is a tiny world! I'm heading out to visit my parents next week, and when I was speaking to my mom last week to let them know, she said, "Oh, there must be a quilt show". When I asked her how she knew, she said, "There is always a quilt show when I go out". Well, she actually means I go out for work, but that's OK. I don't think she really understands what I do. 

However, this time, YES - I am going out to the Saskatoon Quilter's Guild quilt show. I'm not going just for the show or to earn points for my airline status. I'm actually visiting my parents, and I needed to choose a time before the end of the year. This week seemed like a good fit. Being there for the show is a bonus, as I have always missed it in the past due to my crazy schedule, but this time, the stars are aligned, and I can make it. 

I've been chatting with other people, and they are also going to the show, so I've got a lot of people to meet! It's going to be fun, but I suspect the show will be insanely busy. Let's see how it goes. You can be sure I'll give you an update. 

I need to finish booking my travel arrangements for that. I'll have to ask my parents to move since flying to Saskatoon seems to be the most expensive city for me to fly to in Canada. I swear, I can fly to Vancouver twice for the same price as once to Saskatoon. It's all about supply and demand. 

Many of our neighbors to the south are very patriotic, and many have US flags hanging from their houses or flagpoles. I had a tiny flag attached to the light outside the house, but I wanted a large flag. I had been looking for a flagpole so it could hang off our garage. This summer, I found one and had it installed while we were on vacation. I took pictures a while back, but just didn't have the opportunity to post them to the blog. 

So here it is -- my symbol of Canadian patriotism!!! Oh Canada! About 7 neighbors in this area have flags somewhere on their houses! That's a huge number for a Canadian neighborhood!

My Canadian flag

Does anyone remember the pandemic shutdown? Of course, we do! It seems like forever ago, and it's hard to believe that our lives were affected for almost two years! That's a long time, but we have quickly gotten back into our usual lives. Well, that's a bit of a lie, especially for office workers. 

Anyway, the word on the street was DO NOT TOUCH anything with a bare hand or be sure to sanitize the crap out of it afterward. I remember walking around the neighborhood and needing to push the button to cross the street. Some had large buttons that you could push with your elbow, but others had a small button, inside a ring that you had no choice but to use your finger. 

Now look -- we have buttons that we can push or WAVE AT!!! I was leery of just waving, but it worked! I heard the signal "click," and the crossing light came on when the light turned green. 

New ways to summon the crossing light

WAIT -- speaking of being patriotic, I spotted this photo this morning on Facebook. It's a Quilts of Valour display in a church in St. John's, Newfoundland. The exact name of the church is gone. I only snagged one of the photos, but the display looked amazing. It fills my heart to see the outpouring of quilts, and I need to call my local rep and give her the ones that I have done. I had hoped to have more, but that's unlikely to happen this year. 

Quilts of Valour display in St. John's, Newfoundland

The strangest thing happened yesterday morning. The night before, I had a Zoom call, and as usual, when I was done, I just slapped the lid down on the laptop after disconnecting from Zoom. That puts the computer to sleep. However, when I got up and came downstairs, I could hear noises in the basement. I could hear voices. What? It's singing! I cautiously went down the stairs, and it's coming from my closed laptop. What the heck is going on? 

I had shown a YouTube video, and I guess YouTube decided to keep playing even when the lid was closed. What I was hearing was a Gregorian chant!!! Good grief - that kind of freaked me out!

Georgian Chant on YouTube!

I love this shelf to store my quilts on. It's low enough and yet, on wheels, so that I can move it from room to room. I needed to get it out of the guest room the other day, as we have a guest coming to stay for a while. So I rolled it out of the guest room and down the hall into Studio U. 

My quilt storage rack

I have a guild lecture coming up on November 5 (I think that's the date), and it's going to be easier to pull quilts and get what I need if it's NOT in the room. 

The Pony Express is still alive and well, and I see a few things are starting to pile up. Their time to move on will happen in about 6 weeks. In the meantime, two things got moved from my house yesterday, and I got two things in return. 

That is the bonus bundle for the Cherrywood Challenge. 

The small optional bundle for the Cherrywood Challenge

And the backing for my Colour My World quilt. I bought both at Stitch by Stitch in Kingston. 

The backing for Colour My World

We went out to dinner last night, and of course, it was wall-to-wall baseball. We didn't stay for all of the game, and well, they didn't win, but there are still potentially two more games! Go Jays GO!!!

Wall-to-wall baseball

Look at this cutie pie! She loves to sit in her bed and watch the world go by! And I love how she puts one paw on the edge of the bed! I took this from outside on a rainy day! She is so intense!!! 

MOM - you are blocking my view!

And here she is on a different day, but still with that paw over the edge! Oh Murphy! We love you - silly girl, but she desperately needs to go to the groomer, and I've been a negligent dog parent in making that happen. 

Watching the world go by!

Muprphy is like a small child. She loves to solve the puzzle of unwrapping all those blankets to get the ball. I need to rebundle it for her since everything is scattered across the floor from yesterday's puzzle-solving session, and I didn't put it back. Lexi could NOT care less about this kind of thing. Funny how different breeds like different things. Lexi is happy as a clam being outside, where she is currently and has been for hours. 

MOM -- that was so much fun - let's do it again!

I have two big classes this morning, and both presentations are good to go. I've come to realize that I take as long as I have time for the preparation. I had all week and it took all week! Why? Because I have time! 

And I will need to check out that book I mentioned yesterday, as I don't think I got the correct version, but I am less than 100 pages from the end of the other one. What is totally scary about the fantasy book is that it reminds me of some of the current world crises happening now. This book was written in 1992. YES --- there are some weird comparisons. So was that book a foretelling of the future? Or are world crises like these a more common occurrence than we believe? It involves religion and politics - go figure! But I should be able to finish before the due date. 

Speaking of due dates, can you believe that I finally got this book yesterday? Note the date when I originally requested it! 

I did put it on suspend when I went on vacation because I knew it was going to come while I was away. 

It doesn't matter - I have it now! 

Remember, we have a virtual retreat this weekend. 

Saturday, October 18, 2025, STARTS at 6 PM EDT

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82693702241?pwd=QpQkm8Ppppy1XwCPOqva1bcgJCWKdP.1

Meeting ID: 826 9370 2241
Passcode: 795071

Sunday, October 19, 2025, STARTS AT 3 PM EDT

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81073536036?pwd=uxRqMnK1aSKrmrcSO78w8QQs5g44eA.1

Meeting ID: 810 7353 6036
Passcode: 596838

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

PS -- Don't forget to floss, stand up and sit down, go for a walk. Your health is important!

Sorting stabilizers

It's time to put my money where my mouth is. I've been harping about decluttering and organizing, but I found a mess yesterday that needs to be dealt with. 

I had collected all my stabilizers in one place, sorted them by type, and purchased large tubs to store them. 

Let's be clear that they need to be separated from batting (fleece), fusible webs, and interfacing. The "underground" world of sewing is mysterious. All four categories are needed to make our projects look amazing, but you never see them. 

I recently wrote some articles for QUILTsocial on a high-level description of the categories and then spent a week chatting about fusible webs. 

Yesterday, sorting was easy if the stabilizer was in a package or labeled. But what about the rest? Over the years, I've collected many odds and ends. When I initially sorted them, many were shoved into a separate container, and many unlabeled pieces were in the tubs. Sorted? Maybe, but it wasn't efficient, nor was the sorting complete. 

So I pulled everything out of the tubs. 

Sorting stabilizers

Then, I put everything back in the tubs according to the stabilizer category to which it belongs. Stabilizers are categorized by how they are removed: tear away, cut away, wash away, or heat away. Even the container with the blue lid contains stabilizers, as I do not have many heat-away products.  

My tubs of stabilizers

One of the tubs is currently empty because I have more stabilizers under my filming table. Once I finish them at the end of the month, I'll need to incorporate them into the tubs. They will go into the empty tub, and I'll likely have to use one of these tubs. Never mind that I have rolls of stabilizer in a tote bag that I'm taking to the retreat this weekend. Let's say it'll be a while before I run out of stabilizer. 

More stabilizer

One issue is that the rolls come in various widths, from 8" to 24", making them difficult to store. 

Then, there was an overflow basket, which was also a mess. It is partially empty in this picture. But the mess was so nasty that I wasn't using those stabilizers and would default to what was easily identifiable on a roll. That was just silly and wasteful! 

Unidentified stabilizers

These were all the odd bits that were not labeled. I have started to go through them. Some of them are easy to identify, while others are not. 

The rogue pieces of stabilizer

I'm putting the ones I should be using back into the basket, and I've sorted them by type and separated them with bags so it'll be easy to grab what I want. 

Some of the stabilizers were sorted into bags

Some are challenging to identify by eye, so I have my trusty little water container to test if they dissolve in water. There are two pieces in the water. Are they dissolving? 

Testing for water-soluble stabilizer

When I checked a few minutes later (my water was cold; otherwise, it would happen instantly), only one did not dissolve. 

This is NOT water-soluable

What is scary is that there was a label inside the folds of that one that is still intact. This was the label. 

OH -- it was mislabeled

From the feel, I suspected it was not water-soluble. I must have spotted a loose label somewhere along the line and stuck it in the folds. Sigh.

But no more—I am going to clean up this mess. I'll now have an easier time selecting a stabilizer for future machine embroidery projects, and at some point, that basket of odds and ends will be used up! And unless I need something particular, I will force myself to use only what is in the green basket! 

I still have this container to sort through, but at least it's all in one spot. 

A container of odd stabilizer pieces

This is an excellent example of what I mean by cleaning the clutter. You may have a lot of anything, and that's OK. But if there is "junk" amongst those items, you need to deal with it. That basket contains a lot of stabilizers, and I should use those up before I go into those tubs.

Remember those zippered bags for linens that I tried to get rid of several weeks ago? I found a perfect use for them. As I prepare for the machine embroidery workshop (hands-on) this weekend, I'm using the bags to sort the projects. 

The zippered bags are perfect for storage

So, I'm going to keep them. What I like about them is that they are 3-D, unlike the regular zipper plastic bags. Since they are cubes, you can put a good amount of stuff in them, and it doesn't bulge up in the center. Since the contents can be moved around, they can be stacked easily into a tote bag, which is perfect for traveling to retreats. Yep—thanks for not wanting those bags! I will always use them for retreats going forward. 

I measured these large pieces of fabric from Diane's stash, and they are now in the storage room with the other backings. I had sorted through a couple more bags of fabrics, and these large pieces have been sitting on the cutting table this past week. 

Fabric for quilt backings

I've still been puttering and trying to get things cleaned up in Studio B, but it's a challenge with time and mood. But slow and steady - that's all I can say. Do what you can when the moment hits. 

I have a few errands to run before I leave for the retreat tomorrow morning, and I want to make a few samples so I can take them with me. I also want to make a couple of samples for my final Zoom session of the week. It's been nice to have fewer sessions this week. For some reason, I've been tired and needed a daily nap. I don't mind, but why was I exhausted? I feel better today. 

Oh dear—Joseph was not at spin class, so we had a substitute. I think people saw that when they went to reserve a bike because the numbers in the class were way down. I didn't like the guy as much as Joseph, but then I don't like change! 

Finding decent paths to walk on in our neighborhood (and I'm sure this is the same everywhere) is a challenge. This is the sidewalk across from the elementary school. I guess they cleaned out the schoolyard and dumped it here. Thankfully, there's another sidewalk, but this is also one of the entrances to the forest. We can clamber over the snow, although I didn't. What will happen when it all starts to thaw? It's going to be huge blocks of ice! 

A plowed path to nowhere

This is one of the sidewalks that were plowed. I swear their plow wasn't strong enough, or the blade wasn't high enough to do a good job. I hate to say it, but it would have been better if they had not plowed it. It's a challenge to walk on this sidewalk because the snow is very soft, and it's worse than walking on sand because there are three separate and narrow tracks. 

A plowed sidewalk

Thankfully, the owners shoveled all the sidewalks in front of their houses—well, most of them. So walking there is OK, and the multipurpose path is clear. The girls and I have a new route, but it works. Murphy is quite thankful that we're not doubling back, as she doesn't like that. 

So my challenge for you today is to tackle those stabilizers, fusible web, interfacings, and batting (fusible fleece) and get sorting. Separate them into those four categories, then sort them further within each category. I was shocked at how much interfacing (Decor Bond) I found in the stabilizers. Good grief -- at the time, I probably didn't know the difference or didn't have a home for it. But you will use it if it has a home. If it's a jumbled mess, you will not! 

How do I know? Because I'm living proof of that. The amount of stabilizer I realized I had but wasn't using is - well, there's a lot. Now, I have it mainly organized, except for that last container. This is going to make it easy to find exactly what I need. Think of all the time I'm going to save! 

I watched the live stream of the Quilt Con awards ceremony last night. If you want to see the winners, check this link. There were some fantastic quilts and a few repeat winners. Emilie Tahran from Quebec won four awards. Great job, Emilie! Several other members went home with many prizes—Heidi Parkes from Wisconsin won five awards! Check out the Best of Show. It depicts that beautiful sculpture from South Dakota, and I think it sends a quiet message to the world. 

On that note, I'm out of here. I have samples to make, groceries to buy, and photocopies to print! 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

Where do you store your quilts?

Energy! I'm not sure how much energy I'll have later today. Sleep eluded me last night for some reason, and I'm sure I'll take a big nap later. But that's OK. 

Oh my—these pens do actually run out of ink! This is a promotional pen, but it must be a deluxe one because it really is the best pen around. It writes nicely and feels nice to hold, and I love it. Thank goodness I have several of them, as this poor one is done! There is some satisfaction in having a pen run out of ink rather than losing it! 

Bye-bye pen!!

Do you want to see why I bought a second metal shelf? The first one is going to stay in the garage, and at some point, I need to get in there and start getting rid of stuff, but that's not for this week. As you saw yesterday, the shelf is assembled and upstairs. 

I had been to the dollar store and picked up pieces of foam core, which I sliced in half, and two pieces went on each shelf. 

Foam core sheets on the shelf

Then it was time to load it with quilts!!! Yep, there were quilts in a lot of places upstairs—on the floor and on the chairs—and it looked extremely untidy. So I refolded all of these quilts and put them on the shelf. I could fit a few more on, but this made me happy. 

A rolling shelf of quilts

I don't know how many quilts are on that care, but over 50, so getting them "out of the way" is huge! The fact that the shelf is on wheels and fits through a doorway means I can put it anywhere I want upstairs and it's tucked out of the way!! 

This bookcase was crammed with quilts, some of which are now on the rolling shelf. 

Quilts in the bookcase

Some smaller quilts are sitting in this bookcase. 

More quilts and tote bags

There are still some in one of the closets. 

Quilts in the closet

And a few on the other side of that same closet. 

Another shelf of quilts

And then there are those still hanging on the railing, although I managed to remove a few from there as well. 

Quilts on the railing

I put the quilts in some order for the trunk shows or ones I want to keep personally as they have special meaning. And then there's the rest. I NEVER wanted to give my quilts away—well, never is such a strong word, but I made them as class samples or for a magazine, and there was never any intent other than that to make the quilt. And each one is like a baby—you don't want to get rid of it. 

But as I work on the rest of the house, it's time to get rid of some of these quilts. WOW -- that is earth-shattering! Next thing you know, I'll be selling fabric! In the fall, my goal is to pick ten quilts that I never use in any trunk show or that I want to personally keep, and they will be donated to QOV. I'll probably be starting a pile for Project Linus as well, and I should set a goal of donating ten to each organization before the year is out. I may need to quilt one or two for Project Linus, but those are smaller and faster to finish. 

Here's a mind-blowing thought: If I finished one quilt each week in my Community project pile and my own "to be quilted" pile, it would take TWELVE years to clear the backlog! WOW!!!!! So I'll be scheduling some weeks where I can get five done in a week or something like that. Setting out the numbers is a great motivator to get things done! I don't want those quilts hanging around for twelve years!

Getting that shelf was the best storage solution for the quilts (at least for me), and it only cost $100. Yes, I could potentially have gone through and donated a good portion of them now, but I'm not ready! The storage unit at least keeps them off the floor and is easy to move. One day, I want to arrange that railing so they are not heaped on each other. It's all about moving forward, even if the steps are small. 

Mentally releasing those quilts is actually a HUGE step forward, and I'm quite excited about it. If you didn't guess, the foam core will prevent the quilts from getting indents from the shelf. The sheets don't completely cover the metal shelf, but they do cover enough that I think it'll prevent them from getting marks. It was a very cheap solution, costing less than $10 for the entire shelf unit. The proper shelf liners were going to cost $200!

I got some stitching done at the Virtual Retreat, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. However, I'm happy to report that this is what I accomplished. Again, I could have done more, but I made leaps and bounds, and progress is what it's all about. 

The two deer got done. And there were loads of fiddly bits on these guys!!!

Two deer are appliqued

Look at those antlers!!!! 

Lots of fiddly bits

And the deer on the second quilt are also done!!! 

BOTH quilt tops are at the same stage

That means that all the applique on the big center panel is done. The rest of the applique is on the borders, so turning on the sewing machine will be easier. We have Monday sewing today, and I'll work on one of the borders. I hope to get the one border for both quilts done today. 

We finished up the Virtual Retreat early last night, and I managed to complete the last two deer in one hour. It had taken me all day to complete the first two! I'm not productive on Zoom calls. 

And then I packed the quilt shelf last night after the Virtual Retreat and started to pack for my trip, which was probably not a good idea either. Too much excitement? Anticipation? 

Anyway, I sorted through everything that I had taken out of the closet. Oh, I see that it was exactly the way it was when I took it out of the backpack when I got home last year! Well, the clothes had been washed! 

Here is my meager stack of belongings for 30 days! It's hard to grasp how little there is. I should spread it out on the floor so you can see. Three T-shirts, one sweater, one pair of shorts, one pair of pants, three pairs of socks, three pairs of underwear, and two bras. I hope to buy a pair of shorts instead of wearing my sarong. But it's amazing how little one needs. There is a small bag of toiletries, medical supplies, and entertainment (pages ripped from a Sudoku book). OH -- and the bag of electronics, as I plan to blog when I'm away and need to keep things charged. 

My stuff for the trip

As I pack the various things into the backpack, I'll take pictures so you can see how little there is. 

Yep—and hopefully, it will all weigh 12 pounds or less. That's my goal. 

I accomplished a lot more paperwork in the morning, and there's still more to do today, but I've got things under control. I'm not trying to run around and do thousands of things before I leave later this week. The number is only in the hundreds! Just kidding!!! 

On that note, I'm off to spin class!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Digital versus electronic!

LOL --- I guess I'm in between -- having read some of the Harry Potter books but not the entire collection. I've definitely not seen all of the movies - maybe the first two? I enjoy the books, and it's kind of fun to see the movie right after! I never used to be an audiobook kind of person, and I thoroughly enjoy having a book in my hand! There doesn't seem to be time right now, and the audiobooks are handy! I love that we have options! 

As for notes on the phone? That would be blasphemy! It's just not a habit I have gotten into. But I laugh at how we can handle digital stuff for one thing but not another! 

I shall have to investigate Evernote, but that's not going to happen for a while

Thanks for the comments!

So yesterday was pretty productive, and I kept running out of things! Not things to do, mind you! I was off to the clinic to get my blood work done - FINALLY. This is probably the first time in ten years? I don't know exactly, but it's been a while. So let's hope all is fine - I'm happy to stay off medications as long as possible!

They stole my blood! 

I had to wait one hour, which wasn't too bad. I think that you were allowed to make appointments now, but that was NOT what I was told when I dropped off a sample last month. Oh well -- it doesn't matter, I went prepared and read part of the e-book I had with me, and I made my list of things to do! Yikes -- that's long, but I was able to sleep well last night, knowing that all those things were on paper. 

My to-do list

When I arrived at the clinic, the front door to the building was locked, as the clinic doesn't open until 7 AM. I arrived at 6:55. There were two people waiting in the lobby; one of them had already been in but got locked out when she went to get a sweater. Apparently, when the employees went in earlier, they had let people in who were waiting. A fourth person arrived, and he heard the door click open at 7 AM and got to the line before the rest of us. The lady who had already been in was already registered, so that left the three of us to deal with the line. 

As I approached the line, the lady who was there before me was now behind me, and I offered her the spot in front of me. She was technically in line before myself or the guy. The guy who had sped through the door didn't offer the same courtesy to her. It wasn't a huge deal as we were next in line to each other, so he saved five minutes by not letting us go before him. GRRR -- but next time, I'll know how the doors work. It wasn't the time; it was the principle! 

I made great progress on the writing front. Three completed articles went out the door, including videos and pictures. And I made a couple more videos, but blast it; you have to be careful. Well, you have to be careful taking pictures or videos. I was filming a segment, and it was only during the playback that I realized that my Alexa was flashing in the background. Why? Probably because of the stupid sale, and it was notifying me of the sale. So I had to retake that one! GRRRR

And to top it off, there is a limit to the video sizes I can send, and this one was over. So I had to break it up. But then I reached my limit for the day of what I could send, so I'll send them this morning. 

Then my headphones ran out of juice, so I had to stop listening to Harry Potter. I could listen with my earbuds, but I prefer the headphones when I'm working around the long arm. I can hear better. So I worked in silence, and that was fine with me. They take a LONG time to recharge. 

My headphones getting recharged

One more customer quilt is done. 

Customer quilt - DONE

While I'm working through the list, it seems to be never-ending. I realized yesterday that one person had sent an extra quilt that I didn't realize was in the bag, and I had another customer who actually has two pieces as well, and I had counted that as one. So the number is back up there! Two steps forward, three steps back!

All the quilts are trimmed except the one I did yesterday. 

Finished quilts ready (almost) for pick-up

They are not quite ready for pickup as I have more to do for these customers. 

And I had fun trimming this one. Oops -- it was a bit wonky, which can happen when it doesn't get measured. With the customer's permission, I whacked off the end. It was easier to do this on the floor where I knew the quilt was straight. 

Trimming off the end of a customer quilt

And I managed to clear off half of the cutting table. Why do I only get half of it clear? Because that's all the space I need! The rest is going to have to wait a bit. 

But I also trimmed some HSTs while I was waiting for the long arm. 

Trimming half-square triangles

I get asked, from time to time, what I do with all my quilts. Right now, lots of them are heaped on the guest bed. And to be honest, I'm tired of moving them around if someone comes to stay. Yes -- they used to be laid out flat, but that's a pain to move, so they are in a heap at the moment. 

Quilt Storage

I still have a few things sitting in my "staging" area in the living room. These are items that are ready to go but just haven't got delivered yet. 

In keeping with the heap and the items sitting in the living room, I decided to donate some more quilts to Quilts of Valour. I grabbed the three remaining quilts I had made from the Oh Canada collections, and they will be dropped off later today. Two were quilts I made as samples for free patterns when I worked at Northcott, and one was made for a magazine. I do NOT use these for my trunk shows - all three of them were published in some form, so I didn't even take pictures of them. Just folded and stacked, ready to go in the car!

Quilts to be donated to Quilts of Valour

And that left a gap on the railing, so I can take three quilts off the guest bed and put them here! And I have a few other places (closets, quilt racks, etc) where I could put a few others so the amount to move off the guest bed is less! 

That freed up the railing!

There are a lot more quilts that can go. They never get used, so there's no reason to keep them. I'm not ready to do a major quilt giveaway, but like my fabric, I'm having to face reality! It's better to donate the quilts so someone can use them than they sit in my house, taking up space! 

I wouldn't have felt right selling those quilts as I only paid for the batting and my time, but there was a reason to make them, and they have served their purpose. I have quite a few like that! Some will never be given away, as I made them for myself, but there are many that can go! Slow and steady! They all have to be dealt with before we downsize, but that is still years away!

I'm off to spin class and have started reserving my bike on the morning of the class. I see that someone "stole" my bike. Oh well, there are 40 other bikes in the room, so I chose another one. One must not become married to a routine! Get over it and move on! 

On that note, I'm out of here. I have a lot more work to do today, but I'm making great progress, so I'm happy. I need to hit the paperwork list, though. Maybe today!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!

Make do with what you have

 

Another successful Zoom presentation last night. It was all about finishing off quilts, and one of the things I wanted to showcase was the Binding Attachment. Do I actually do a live demo? Why not - let's do it. 

The binding attachment on the PFAFF creative icon

Actually, the demo went very well. It's hard to do a live demo. Not only do you want to do it reasonably quickly when you might take a little more time if you're on your own. You have the pressure of people watching you. Let's not forget the camera in the way! 

The camera in front of the sewing machine

But it worked very well, and I was quite pleased with the final result. I have a bunch more small samples that need to be bound. I should be using the Binding Attachment, so that's something to add to the list of things that need to be done. 

FYI -- If you are interested in participating in these lecture series - there are three of them - quilting, embroidery and embroidery software. They are brand specific to either PFAFF or Husqvarna. Call your local dealer to see if they are going to run any of the series. If not, call around for other dealers and get on their class list. 

While I would love to show live samples of my quilts or binding or stitching or whatever, I've realized that it's just too complicated and takes too long. So I need pictures. Yesterday, I was putting together the binding presentation. I needed pictures of different ways of finishing quilts and stitching for bindings. Oh god - look what happened. 

Quilts and more quilts everywhere

That room that had all the quilts nicely laid out on the bed? It's not so neat any longer. Holy - I never realized how much weight is on that bed! I'm surprised the frame hasn't collapsed. Those quilts are heavy to move. 

Now that they are in total disarray, I need to sort them. If I take an overall photo of the quilt and a couple of detailed pictures, I'll have easy access to all the quilts. I need to measure them as well. Then they need to be sorted on the bed. The ones that I'm least likely to want will be on the bottom, and the other ones will be grouped by categories. 

NO time like the present to get started! 

At some point, I realized that I had taken my shoes off when I was in that room so I could walk on the quilts. ACK! Where did my shoes go??? 

There's a shoe among the quilts

AHA -- there's one shoe, and the other one wasn't too far from that one. I did have to laugh! When I get busy prepping, watch out! Things fly!

As I was walking the dogs in the morning, I noticed this lawn. Hmm - I wonder what they going to do here. All the grass has been stripped off. Are they putting new grass down or making it an environmentally friendly front yard? We'll just have to watch and see what happens. 

Grass stripped off a front yard

One article got written and sent off. Four more to do for that project and four for another project need to be written and a quilt pattern. Most of the photos are taken for all of them, but I like to edit the heck out of my documents, so hopefully, the editors have very little work to do on their end. 

I'll be working on one of those articles today and hope to get to the long arm as well. I've got another presentation this evening, but it's the second time around, so the prep work will be minimal. Set the cameras, double-check the presentations, and I'm good!

I need to get working on my UFO projects as the date is fast approaching. I've made good progress during the month. No waiting until the last day this month. There was too much to do in one day anyway. 

I'm working on the snail's trail quilt. 

The snail's trail blocks are together

All the blocks are now together. And it's a far cry from what the original pattern looked like. 

The original pattern

Thankfully, I'm so past having to make things EXACTLY like the pattern. I'd be fussing about fabric quantities, techniques, and not getting the project done. This is about getting things DONE!!!

Of course, all the seams on the back are twirled. There's so much bulk between the blocks (well - at those points), and the quilt top just looks better when the seams are twirled. 

Seams are twirled on the back

When I got the top together, I measured it, and it's just a wee bit too narrow for Quilts of Valour. I knew that, so I grabbed one of the two pieces of brown fabric left from making the blocks. This is all I have for the border. I figured out how many strips I needed, divided the length of fabric by that number, and made the border. Easy and no worries about running out. Make do with what you have and move on!!

The fabric for the border

This is what I had leftover. That can go into the brown bag of strings for string pieced quilts. 

Leftover brown after cutting the border

There's one piece of brown fabric left, and I was going to use it for the binding, but I don't think it's large enough. So I'll dig through the stash to find something that'll work and then go through the backing material to find something brown. 

That fabric that I used for the border is in the quilt, and as luck would have it - that fabric was in one of the blocks along the side. 

The borer fabric is in the blocks as well

The borders along the sides are on. Yeah!!!!!

Side borders are on

And the top and bottom borders are pinned and waiting to be sewn on later today. 

Top and bottom borders are pinned in place

There's no stopping me! I can get anything done that I set my mind to. I just wish I had more hours in a day. I get so motivated and just not enough time to do everything my brain wants to do that day. 

But I'm OK. I'm excited to get up each day and look forward to getting more stuff sewn or cleaned up. I'm making such great progress, and that's all that counts. 

While I have access to some fantastic sewing machines, I'm not a sewing machine snob. I'm sewing on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby deLuxe. Even though the Designer EPIC 2 is sitting idle in the background. It's set up for embroidery, and I can't be bothered to take the embroidery arm off as I have more that I want to do. I'm OK with it - I LOVE the Designer Ruby deLuxe. It sews like a dream, and it was set up and ready to go!!! 

Sewing on the Designer Ruby deLuxe

OK -- It's official. The VIRTUAL Class for LONG TIME GONE is up. You can sign up NOW. 

I'll be teaching that quilt as a Virtual class at Thimbles and Things in Orillia. Here's the link to the page at the store with the instructions for signing up.   I pulled my fabric the other day, and I'm getting ready to get the first assignment together. 

I'm so excited - I've wanted to make this quilt for a long time. It looks very BUSY, but I've got ideas. Get yourself signed up and book that first date in your calendar, where we're going to chat about fabric and a whole lot more. It's going to be a jam-packed class. The books are available from Thimbles and Things. I would NOT WAIT to sign up - I'm not sure how many books are available. 

I walked to the grocery store again. I love walking around the neighborhood. I get to check out things like how my neighbors seem to have no concept of how the garbage system works in our area. If you have a large appliance, you have to get rid of it yourself. We now have a stove and a fridge outside. At least the stove is hanging out at their garage door, but still. The fridge? The city doesn't pick it up - you have to pay to have it removed by a private company if you don't do it yourself. I see myself knocking on their door soon. It's ridiculous that people just put out stuff they don't want and don't seem to care whether it gets picked up or not. The same neighbor with the stove also has parts of a big desk on the curb. Our street looks like a junkyard!

Here's the link to the SATURDAY, September 19, Virtual Retreat. Remember, this retreat starts at 2:30 PM as I have several presentations and classes in the morning. 

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87628087473?pwd=QjE0Q1Ntc2o2anpvVEl5Y2Z2dFArQT09 Meeting ID: 876 2808 7473 Passcode: 072178

I have loads more to say, but it's time to go!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!