Another great day!

Sit n Sew days are the best - but they're exhausting!

There were a total of eight of us yesterday sewing. I don't think anyone forgot anything - no need to borrow a specialty ruler, or thread or fabric. But there were a LOT of questions and advice needed! That's OK - that's what it's all about. Having fun and encouraging each other.

I have to confess that after the group left, I needed a nap! I had (and still have) loads of work that I was going to do last night, but I was just too tired to make that happen. Later today is the night - it has to happen today! I need to be moving onto the next urgent things.

I didn't manage to get a picture of what everyone was working on. Sharon is slowly working her way through her Border Creek Mystery from several years ago - she's now on Clue 5 of eight Clues. There is a light at the end of the tunnel - just a long ways away yet. There's a LOT of cutting and sewing in those quilts.

I know a couple of ladies working on the current Border Creek Mystery. I've done my share of these mysteries and not finished all of them. No need to start another one!

Diane was madly sewing a ton of 9-patch blocks to make a very cool quilt. No pictures. Linda was working on some very intensely pieced star blocks. And Lynn worked on a variety of projects. I love how people bring intense projects to the Sit n Sew days. It's boring to work on those at home by yourself. And some people keep projects that they work on just at Sit n Sew days. I'm kind of like that for the Monday sewing. I don't work on those projects except on Monday. Works for me!!!

So what did I get pictures of?  Have a look.................

This is Ronda's table runner. The runner was done, she added the binding - both sides by machine!!!!  Way to go Ronda. This as from the table runner class from last year. More on the rest of the show n tell from that later this week. She was also working on something else, but had a wee bit of a challenge with the math - we won't go there.

Ronda's table runner

 Pam had the blocks for this quilt cut out and managed to get the entire top sewn together yesterday. Great job Pam - love the colors!!!!  It's a kit by Shania Sunga and I believe she designed the batik fabric as well.

Pam's koala quilt

 France worked very hard and got HALF of her quilt together. The blocks were done but she had to repress some of the seams. These blocks are from Border Creek's recent online sew along called Let's be Friends. Anyway, I love the way she used a huge variety of values of blue in the blocks and how scattered they are in the placement. It looks awesome!!!  She made 61 blocks and used a different blue in each block! Apparently, she still has a lot of blue fabrics that she didn't use. Do you think she likes blue?

France's Let's be Friends quilt

I made the backing for that jelly roll quilt I showed you yesterday. I forgot to take a picture. I'll do that later today. Then I worked on finishing the rag quilt. I wanted this done so I snipped and snipped and got it completed. Yeah - this is finish Number 70 for the year!!!!

Rag quilt DONE!

 Then I tossed it in the washer because technically it isn't done until it's been washed at least once. Before I went to bed last night, I laid it out on the work tables so it could finish drying.

The washed rag quilt

 This morning when I had a peek at it, I noticed that an entire row hadn't been snipped. Oh, shoot - so I snipped that this morning, wrote it in my book as Number 70 and it's going to be donated next week. I'm not rewashing it.

Oops - forgot to snip the cross pieces on an entire row

I was working on my ender/leader project as well. I had randomly cut pieces of white on black without counting. I am THREE pieces short. That's a pretty good guestimate!!!  I'm not sure how many blocks I have so I'll be cutting a lot more fabric I'm sure and I'll need them for the next round on the opposing blocks. I think I said that I need 60 blocks with red in the center, then the white on black and finally a round of black on white. I don't think there are 60 block centers here.

The ender/leader project 

 Here's the opposing block - red center, black on white and then white on black. A wee bit of counting will be in order or I might wait until I run out of that white. Anyway - I'm going to need a cutting session soon.

One of the opposing blocks

I also got one more block completed for Audra's quilt. I got the chicken done - she's in the bottom row. There are three more blocks to finish. All have applique in them. I was hoping to have one prepped to take to Monday sewing, but I was too tired to do that. It'll have to wait until later this week if I can eek out the time. I have a few deadlines. And I have to prep for a big weekend. I'll share all the details tomorrow, but if you happen to be in Earlton or North Bay this weekend, I'm coming to visit!!!!

Simple Country Sampler to date

This is the mess in my studio! Well, the messy corner. I would love to get that corner completely dealt with by the end of the year. Some of that stuff has deadlines so it has no choice but to be dealt with. Some are easy projects that could be finished in an hour or two. And there's a chair of quilts to be bound. It's all possible. I just have to keep focusing and I'll make it happen.

The visual "to do" list!!

It looks worse than it is as there are some bags of supplies that I brought in because I need the supplies. Once I get the supplies, the bags go back to their place of residence. It's all good. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!!! 

It would be great to then be able to bring out some new stuff.

On that note, I'd better get myself together for the day!!!!  I think I'll be cutting the sewing day short as I have some computer work that has to be done today!!!!

Don't forget to check out QUILTsocial where I'm introducing a BRAND NEW sewing machine by Husqvarna Viking. It's a pretty exciting sewing machine. I'm in love with all the features. Check it out!!!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!

Do NOT do this at home

I had a pretty productive day yesterday. There's so much to do and it's hard to choose which project to work on first, but that's OK. Progress - it's all about progress unless there's a deadline involved and there are a few deadlines coming up so I'd better get my act together and FOCUS.

I made super progress on the paperwork in the morning. It's amazing how much easier it is when everything is in the right place. I know - I should have been doing that my entire life, but I didn't. So I'm learning how to get things in order. Well, in better order than they have been. Then it was time to do some errands. Now I'm all ready for my rope bowl class at our upcoming retreat. Yes - another retreat is looming fast. I haven't started to pack for that, but I'm going to have to start prepping soon.

When I finally made it home from the errands, I decided to give that long arm computer a whirl and see what happens. The tablet was charged up and worked like a charm. Since the battery didn't seem to be losing power, it must have somehow reconnected with the power cord. Seriously, there are days when I think that someone is trying to tell me something. The previous day wasn't the day to quilt, but yesterday was. If I lived in New Orleans - I might even believe in ghosts!

So what did I quilt? Something of mine.

My quilt - DONE

It's a very girly girl quilt with bicycles on it. The backing to go with it was this hot pink minky. However, when I did some measuring before the quilt went on the long arm (this happened the other day), there seemed to be a wee problem. Minky is 62" wide. The quilt was 61 ½". Now that could be a problem. I decided to forge ahead and make it work. DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT EVER bring me a quilt in this same situation. I will refuse it. I don't mind to mess with my own quilt in that manner, but I would NEVER do a customer quilt like that. Way too much pressure.

I didn't even have room to serge something to the edges of the minky, although I probably should have and I could always have cut a wee bit off the border.

Anyway, there was barely room to spare on both sides. It took a wee bit of fudging as I went along to make it happen.

The backing was JUST the right size

This quilt required some serious babysitting for the entire time it was on the long arm. I could not have done it if I didn't have the computer. So while the computer stitched, I held the edges of the quilt. Like I said - NOT good, but the end result looks perfectly fine and once the binding is on, no one will be the wiser what happened to it.

I was texting someone during the quilting process and I said I was quilting a quilt of mine that had issues. I also said I was an idiot. I got a response back that I was good at that. Good at being an idiot or dealing with issues?  She did mean that I was good at dealing with issues, but it was pretty funny the way the message came through. Thanks, Ronda - I love you too!!!

This quilt wasn't buried in the tubs, well it was buried in the two tubs of the most recent stuff I've done. Hm - I don't remember this quilt at all. I don't remember buying it, I don't really remember making it. Now how did that happen? And where was the pattern? As I was quilting it, I remembered that I was going to make a zippered pouch with all the leftovers. I dug that bag out this morning and VOILA - there's the pattern.

The pattern for the quilt

 It came from Quilter's Cupboard. I'm certain that it was a kit, but did I buy it? Or did someone gift it to me?  Oh boy - that's why we put labels on things and keep the patterns with the quilts until they are labeled.

I might give this quilt away. I do have a bicycle quilt already although this one is super cute. I was thinking of making a bicycle quilt for someone and I need it soon. Might as well give it away - what else will I do with another quilt.

Here's the bag of scraps that I am going to make a zippered pouch with.

Scraps to make a zippered pouch

Had to go to a meeting last night and I grabbed this rag quilt so I could finish the snipping on it. Thank goodness I took the quilt with me. It was cold in the room and I cuddled under the quilt as I snipped away. I had already done some snipping, but it wasn't finished. Well, it's finished now.

Rag quilt - DONE

 I guess it's technically not completely finished as it's currently in the washing machine and I'll pop it in the dryer in a few minutes. Then it'll be done. That's project number 63 for the year.  Only 37 more to go - can I do it??  Actually - let's make the goal 104 which would work out to 2 projects per week for the year. So that makes 41 projects to go. Hmm - that's going to be tight. But there are about 10 more quilts (at least) that just need the binding, 7 that have magazine deadlines, and a rug and a tuffet that both require about one hour. That's half of the goal right there. Worse case - I have a bunch of table runners that need to be quilted and bound. Those would go fast. Or I have some zippered pouches and bags that are close. I'm sure if I get looking, there are other things that are very close to being finished.

Snipping those rag quilts is easy when you have the proper tools. I seem to have two pairs of these reverse action scissors. Probably couldn't find the original pair when it came time to snip a rag quilt I did a while back so I had to buy a new pair.

Reverse action scissors - perfect for snipping rag quilts

Actually, there were three rag quilts in total. Someone had taken a class and ended up not liking rag quilts so they gave me all their bits. I did blog about it. I decided that making two huge quilts was going to be a lot of work and they would be very heavy, so I made three smaller quilts. These last two are perfect as a kid's quilt. I'll be donating this one when I get a chance - the first one has already been donated and the last one (when I get it snipped) will be donated as well. Thanks, Pam - your rag quilts are almost finished!!!   Two down and one to go.  I might be slow, but I do get things done!

I'm not sure if I should tell you this or if I should let Lexi tell you. The girls have been obsessed all summer with the gazebo. They just wouldn't stop worrying about something that was under the gazebo. They tried to dig through the floor, they tried to dig underneath and they would run around and around. Anyway, I thought it was a rabbit. The other day I went into the gazebo to survey the backyard in all its autumn glory. I glanced down and OH GOD - there's a dead animal hanging out from underneath the gazebo. I couldn't even tell what it was. And it had been dead for a while. I never noticed the smell in the backyard as we haven't really been out there much lately.

Yesterday I got my dead animal removal tools out (a rake and a shovel) and after a wee bit of a struggle, I freed the carcass. Turns out it was an opossum. I could tell by the tail. That's the second one that I've had to remove from the backyard with my handy extractive tools although the other one was lying in plain view. Thankfully, those girls are only after the thrill of the hunt and once they've got whatever, they leave it alone.

Of course, DH asks how I knew it was dead. DUH!!!  I won't go into details - let's just say that it was dead. GROSS!!!!  It was totally gross and that's all you need to know about that.

I hadn't noticed that they haven't been worrying around the gazebo. Let's hope that we're finished for the year. I think that makes 2 opossums, at least one if not two squirrels, a rabbit, and some mice. ICK!

On that gross note, I'm out of here. I've got a ton of stuff to get done and I'd better get my butt in gear.

Have a super day!!

Ciao!

OH -- I found a link to the PRINCE quilt show in Seaforth.  Check it out. 

Grand Opening

Let's see, it wasn't a very productive day for me yesterday. Matter of fact, I barely did any sewing or quilting. But I'm OK with that. It happens some days. What did irk me is that I "wasted" a lot of time messing around with videos on my iPad. But it was one of those restless days when I wasn't happy doing anything.

Now here's a weird fact. You know that weighted blankets have become a trend for people with Hmm - I want to say that's its Autism? Just checked that link and yes it's Autism. I believe the blankets are also used for stress and anxiety.

I find that when I have restlessness, one of my legs, not both, but just one gets fidgety. It drives me crazy. I have the perfect solution. I have a rather large quilt and didn't know what to do with it. It got folded in four and placed on the end of the bed. Now I sleep under those FOUR quilt layers, PLUS a duvet and I sleep amazingly well. I know - that sounds like a LOT of weight, but I just love the weight of all of that on me and I need it for the warmth. I'm so cold!  Let's just say that there's so much weight on my legs that my leg can't fidget!!!!

I'm going to write two posts this morning - there's a lot to share and I'll post my weigh-in story separate.

I attended the Grand Opening of Oh Look Fabric! in Milton yesterday. I ran into some new friends and some that I've known for years. Had a couple of consults with students and bought a wee bit of fabric. I also broke down and had a piece of cake! Why not?

The ribbon cutting ceremony

 The Mayor of Milton was out to cut the ribbon. He's been doing this for a long time and is quite the character. No, you can't see me in the photo above. But if you look real close, the only spot of orange amongst the people is my shoulder!!!   There were several cameras and well, I was looking at a different one than the one that took this picture!!! 

Here's the cake cutting ceremony. Those boys sure wanted cake and that little guy in the orange had no problem volunteering that he was the BEST of the three. You know what means?

Cake cutting ceremony

I'll be teaching more classes at the store in the next coming weeks, nothing complicated so if you know someone who wants to learn to sew or learn how to paper piece or English paper piecing, then I'd call the store to sign up! The classes are always fun. And don't forget to check out the fabrics. They are quite different from most shops around and lots of fun!

Then I was back home where I sewed a wee bit on the Fickle Pickle quilt. But I got my act together this morning and the bottom 2/3 is completely sewn together and two of the three "blocks" in the top row are together.

Blocks are almost sewn together

I haven't figured out the borders yet. I think I'm going to wait until I have a bit more time to figure it out. Let's not forget that I have that challenge that needs to be put together. When I was digging through the piles of stuff on the work tables, I came across something that I remembered I wanted for an upcoming trunk show. The trunk show is at the Durham Trillium Quilters' Guild. It's on Tuesday night, April 3. The topic is scrap quilts.

No worries, the top is encased in these two boxes. I think I'll be busy this afternoon. It can be done The blocks are together, they just need to be sewn together and NO borders.

Urgent project to sew!

This is one of my UFOs for 2018 so it's all good.

I managed to get a wee bit more done on the pixel block as well. Shouldn't be a problem to get this block completed, but let's not forget that I haven't even touched the Monday sewing bag in getting it prepped for tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day!

Pixel block number eleven

I did manage to finish one project yesterday. While I was messing with the videos on my iPad, I managed to clip the cat mat. It's been washed and looks slightly wet in this picture. That's because I pulled it out of the dryer to take a picture!!!

Finished raggy cat mat

Some cat is going to have a heyday with that thing!

And now to freeze my butt off at the dog park. Is it ever going to warm up? Then I'll write my other post for today - the pant story!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!

To toss or repair

Is it nap time yet? Yes, it's going to be one of those kinds of days. While I'm not super sick, I've congestion in my nose and chest, but I'm not hacking my lungs out. Still, I'm tired. I'm going to write this post, then it will be nap time.

While I did spend a good part of yesterday either snuggled under several quilts on the sofa or in my big chair (but not big enough to be super comfortable) reading a book, I did manage to get some stuff done in the studio.

Amazing how little happens when there is no deadline.

I got the second of the rag quilts together. That means it's time to get the snips out and start clipping those seams. I might be able to manage that while I lazing around. I'm not sure, but that heavy flannel quilt would sure keep me warm.

The second rag quilt is assembled

The person who gave me the rag quilts was making two of them. The first one, I assembled ONE quilt. This second one, I split into two. Gosh, that first one must have been huge which is why it took forever to snip the seam allowances!!!  Hopefully, the process will go a wee bit faster this time.

There were a few bits left over which I thought would make a nice cat bed. I was missing ONE of the small squares so I cut one from my flannel scraps (can you guess which one it was?). This should be super easy to snip the seam allowances. I might just manage that today.

Raggy flannel cat bed

Let's see - I put the binding on a quilt - only the one side, but I also prepped the sleeve for that quilt and one other quilt that I had bound during my binding marathon for QUILTsocial this week. There are quite a few more that need binding (from my quilting marathon of the last couple of weeks). I'm going to attempt to do a couple a day, but in theory, I'd like most of the binding done by next Thursday which shouldn't be a problem.

I've got two quilts (they were the largest ones) trimmed and so there's a wee bit of a gap in the work tables. A wee gap!!!  You can actually see the surface of the table!

Progress is being made on the work tables

 But if I consider that the machine has already been gone for one week and will likely be back in two, I'm way behind and that would be a lot of stuff to pack up for the retreat! I'm not worried. It'll happen.

Here are the quilts waiting to be bound sitting on the other set of work tables.

Quilts waiting to be bound

Something else that I need to get working on is a couple of challenge quilts. Now I don't care if my challenge quilts are spectacular. They are usually a place to try something new. The moment I opened this package this morning (this is the Trend-Tex challenge for Quilt Canada in Vancouver), I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. I dug out a source that I needed and hopefully later today, I can get working on it. I'm not sure how it will end up looking - I'm just going with the flow on this one.

The fabrics for the trend-tex challenge for QuiCanadaada

 The fabric is a cotton lawn so it's creamy smooth. I'm only going to use the fabrics included in the kit, so I'll be limited in how big the piece will be. That's where I rely on my intuition. Just let the cards fall where they may.

I had a wind chime in my backyard. It's been hanging in the gazebo for years and I noticed a while back (OK - last year) that the blue piece (that the wind catches) had fallen off. The cording had rotted through. I had to find the piece of glass as one minute, it would be there (as I was sitting in my lawn chair and looking through the railing of the gazebo) and the next it would be buried - thanks to a pair of hooligans ripping around the gazebo.

I finally rescued the piece and when all the work was being done in the backyard, I decided to bring in the wind chime so I could reattach the piece of glass.

Broken wind chime

Now you'd think this would be an easy job. Pull out the old cord and insert a new one. Nope - that cording must have been glued in place because it won't budge. Oh crap, I finally decided to toss the wind chime and just get a new one. How expensive can they be? I popped down to Rona yesterday, but they no longer sell them. Seriously????  Yep, when they downsized, the wind chimes got nixed.

Back home to search the internet to try and find a wind chime. Gosh, I found some that were HUNDREDS of dollars. I don't want that!  Anyway, after a more thorough search this morning, I found an outdoor store not far from me that sells all kinds of backyard stuff. They are probably closed today but I'll be popping by tomorrow to see what I can find. I'm excited!  I love hearing the little tinkle of the wind chime and this is NOT something you can buy online. I choose the wind chime based on the sound, not the look. I don't want a big booming sound, and I don't want a little tinkling bell, I want a decent sounding wind chime.  Yeah - can't wait for tomorrow.

I've got two links for you today. It's the last day of my blog posts on binding quilts on QUILTsocial. As you could probably tell from the posts, I'm super excited about all that I learned this past week. It takes bindings to a whole new level and I can't wait to start using some of those techniques. Maybe even later today!

The second is about quilt books. I love books about quilt history. I've got quite a collection of them, but always on the lookout for more. I came across this new book which I shall have to try and find somewhere. I hate to pay full price for them because they are expensive. And I've been able to find oodles of them at guild garage sales. Thanks, ladies!!!!  Anyway, here's a link to an author that looks very interesting if you're into that kind of book. The author's name is Roderick Kiracofe.  I have two of the Quilt Digest (I'm certain I have a third, but couldn't locate it this morning). I also thought I had his main book, but nope - I don't have that one.  So if you happen to be downsizing and you have some of these historical/picture books of quilts, let me know and we can talk. I already have a big collection so I might already have whatever you're getting rid of!!!  And I really need to make it a priority to upload all my quilt books to Collectorz - the software that I use to catalog the books I've read.

I'm a big user of the public library. Often, I'm somewhere and I see a book and I think, "Does the library have this book?" (as I'm too cheap to cough up the money for the book, especially if it's fiction).  It was very difficult to access the library catalog through the internet. So I would take a picture of the book and then check when I got home.  NO MORE!!!   There's an APP for that!  The APP is called BookMyne - available for free in the Play Store and it gives you access to your account and the ENTIRE library catalog of YOUR library. Even better, you can scan the book's ISBN and see if the library stocks the book you're looking at.  WOW!!!!   I love that!!!!    It's not just for my library - it's for all libraries that had connected to the app - you start off by selecting your library.

OK, now I'm tired and for sure, I need a nap before I tackle those bindings.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

What's next................

Without a deadline, I'm like a lost soul! It's easy to get distracted! Very easy. It doesn't help that I'm not feeling my usual self. The Task Master and I are going to have to have a little chat. That'll get me whipped back into shape.

Don't worry, I'm not overdoing it. I've already finished my second book this week and halfway through another one. I'm taking my fair share of catnaps and long bouts in the chair to read. I took a walk to the library yesterday where I thought I was doing great by handing in three books, only to bring home five! Now how did that happen? Doesn't matter, I'm enjoying the leisure time and the quilts can wait.

I did get the last of the urgent computer stuff done yesterday as well. I still have stuff to do - a LOT of stuff,  but I think most of it can wait. And I got notification yesterday that the long arm has arrived at its destination. Yeah!

I did get a wee bit of sewing done over the last couple of days. Check it out.

The first raggy quilt is together. It just needs to have the seams clipped. The size is about 52 by 62 which is good for a cuddle quilt. I didn't lay out the rectangles in any particular order, I just grabbed and sewed. Then I tried to arrange the rows so that no two fabrics were touching. And you guessed it - there are two fabrics touching!

Raggy quilt ready for the seams to be clipped

Here's the back of the quilt.

Back of the rag quilt

Since I want to get these two quilts done, I sorted through the rest of the patches and put them in rows. Again, totally random!

Piles for each row of the second rag quilt

I managed to get half of it sewn together yesterday and this morning when I woke up, my head was saying "get up, you can have that rag quilt finished in no time". My body said, "get real!"

The second rag quilt is half sewn

My body won - the quilt is still half sewn!

But not to be sitting idle, I came across this box this morning and had to lay out the blocks. The blocks are completely finished. They just need to be sewn together. There are only 16 blocks, so how long will that take?

Fickle Pickle by bee creative

It's gorgeous and I started those blocks years ago!  I need to rearrange some of them, this is the first pass, but isn't it a bright happy quilt? I do believe that this designer has closed up shop, but I think the Hobby Horse still has one pattern.

I've got a couple of links for you this morning. The first is important if you download patterns from the internet. It's all about printing .pdf files.  And there're a couple of very intriguing quilt patterns at the end of the article that you can buy and download. NO - I don't need another pattern but I'm tempted.

But the best part of today? Well, that's the information you'll find on QUILTsocial. It's the day when we stitch the binding to the front of the quilt and I give you LOTS of options. Be sure to check it out.
There are LOTS and LOTS of good tips.

And if you have NOTHING to do this weekend, it's the grand opening of Oh Look Fabric - the new quilt store in Milton.

On that note, I'm off to get the day started. What to do? Computer or sew or read? Well, it'll be a combination of all three.

Have a great day!

Ciao!!

Stocked up!

A wee bit more time on my hands this morning, although it was a weird sleepless night and I slept in. But that's OK, I feel a bit of a scratchy throat and the last thing I want is a full-blown cold. Lots of rest and lots of water.

I spent Sunday with fellow long arm quilters. Just chatting about quilting and seeing some amazing show n tell. It was an interesting day as well as others got ideas from the group as to how to quilt their quilts. Yikes - way too complicated for me! I do appreciate all the work that goes into quilting some of these quilts, but many that I have just don't dictate spending that much time on them and I don't have the luxury of time to do that either.  But I'm spending more time these days getting more creative with my quilting.

On my way home, I had errands to do. Should I do them now? I was getting tired. But I persevered and got all the errands done! That means I don't have any to do this week.  Yeah!!!  So I'm stocked up with.....................

7 additional jugs of distilled water for the iron

And three pieces of Foam Core for the mini-design boards.

3 pieces of Foam Core for the mini-design boards

Oh - I might not have told you what the mini-design boards are. Well, you'll have to watch for that this week.

I didn't have a lot of time to write a blog post yesterday as I had to cut my blocks for the 150 Canadian Women so I'd have something to sew at Monday sewing. And I got a bit more computer work done.  Today is the last day this week where I have URGENT stuff to tidy up. A LOT of urgent stuff and then I'm pretty much free for the remainder of the week to do WHATEVER I want.

I did a wee bit of sewing on Sunday night. Here's what I did. Yes - let's pick the project that is NOT on the project tables. But as I had mentioned the other day, I did want to get these rag quilts out of the way. At least sewn together so I would be able to start ragging them whenever I have some downtime.

The rows of the rag quilt are together

Then when I was having a sleepless night last night, I got up to sew.

I got most of the rows together and decided that the quilt was not long enough so I added two more rows.

Two more rows added

I think I like this size and after looking at the other two smaller stacks (one of which I raided to get the two additional rows), there is enough to make another quilt this size. PERFECT! I might even be able to get those done. Using the Epic 980Q (the machine I'm using to blog with on QUILTsocial), that machine flies so it was easy to zip through those seams.

But I did a very bad thing yesterday when I got home from Monday sewing. I got my nose in a book. And I didn't put it down until I was finished. Needless to say, the entire evening passed by. And it was only when I got to bed that I realized that I had forgotten to go to a meeting that I wanted to attend. This morning, I realized that I had missed an eye appointment. Which is ironic when you think that the main character in the book was suffering from amnesia!!!! 

Needless to say, the book was a THRILLER. I don't normally read that much at once, but it was a page-turner right to the end. It's called Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson. I think I just found a new author!!!   Very interesting. I just checked the author's webpage. This was his FIRST novel which was turned into a movie - for some reason, I thought it was a movie. OH, my - the trailer looks amazing.  I might have to watch it. I've just requested his second book from the library. See how easily I get distracted?  And I still have a huge stack of books here from the library, but of course, with my sleepless night, I'm well into another one which is quite interesting as well. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

The other day when I was sewing, I needed to change the needle and wind bobbins. That means it's time to clean out the bobbin case as well. Yikes - that's pretty filthy in there!

A very dirty bobbin case

I hope you enjoyed the first of five posts regarding binding on the QUILTsocial blog. Today, the topic is all about making continuous bias binding. Something that I get asked about - now here's a tutorial for you to make it. Super easy. Be sure to check it out!!

On that note, I'm out of here to get my commitments done for the day and I have ONE scheduled phone call to make that I cannot miss. I've lots of exciting things to blog about this week, so make sure you stay tuned.

Have a great day!!

Ciao!!!

I'm super super SUPER excited this morning!!!

The biggest issue with going to bed so early is that you wake up early! Really early!  I need to try and switch that time back a wee bit. However, I'm happy to report that I've already made huge leaps and bounds into getting some stuff done!!!

I'm so technically competent today I almost fell over. My class wanted me to provide some notes to them. The notes would be hand drawn so how to distribute them? Well, scanning them would be the obvious choice. When I checked the printer/scanner this morning, I didn't see my computer on the list. Hm - how to make that happen? To make a long story short, I did some quick research, downloaded the software and within minutes, my document was scanned and it should be waiting for the students when they check their e-mail this morning. I'm over the moon with happiness about that. Yahoo!!!!   It worked - it worked!!!

That's very exciting because there are other times when I'd like to send something and I would like to scan it - now I know how and maybe the printer will cooperate better.

The weigh-in went very well yesterday. One more pound is gone! I might just have to buy some new pants soon. The low-rise pants that I love, well, I have to be careful now! I won't go into details. That's too much information. Two pounds to go!!!!   Yahoo!!!!!!

I acquired the missing fabrics from the Purely Canadien Eh? collection.  Now to find the pattern idea that I wanted to experiment with. AHA - found that after going through a huge pile of books where I also found a book that I OWN, but I had just borrowed the same book from the library. The library copy is now by the front door. That's sad that I don't even remember purchasing that book.

Purely Canadian fabric

Thanks to Ronda, my fabric mule for the safe delivery!!!!

I turned on the sewing machine when I first went down to the studio, but I was busy doing other things and didn't have time to get to the machine right away. Then when I finally did get there, it asked me if I wanted to do the upgrade. The darn thing is connected to the internet, so the upgrade was done, but then I had to find something else to do while the upgrade occurred.

Upgrade happening on its own

You have to love technology when it works. Upgrades are done by themselves. I love it!!


So I looked at that heaped table to see where I could start. I collected all the loose bits of batting and now they are folded and labeled and ready to be put in the batting closet.

Batting bits labeled and ready to store

The next block for the pixelated apple is laid out.

Block Eleven of the apple quilt

Notice that there is some green in this block. All the red squares are cut.  The project bag is getting smaller. I now have a deadline to get this quilt finished, but that shouldn't be an issue. The deadline is months away and I'm on a roll.

Project bag is getting smaller

I cut some blocks for one of my monthly classes, but I'm not ready to sew them together yet.

Hm - now what to do with stuff that I pull from the table that is processed. I don't want to put it back on the table. So I dug out two tote bags. You have to LOVE those tote bags.

One is for the upcoming sewing retreat. Those blocks would be perfect to sew at the retreat. And the second bag is to store stuff like the rest of the pixelated apple. I don't want it to go far away.

Two tote bags to store "prepped or waiting" items

Can you figure out which one is for the retreat?  YES - it's the biggest one of course!  My goal is to ONLY take that bag with me. No other bags of projects.

A while back, a friend gave me a bunch of prepped rectangles that were for a rag quilt. She actually was making two. Didn't like the process so gave it to me. One of them is done. Remember how I toted that rag quilt with me everywhere while I clipped the seams. Well, the remainder of the rectangles were sitting on top of a cupboard. I had them all arranged in bundles for the rows for the second quilt. Then they fell over.

I decided to make THREE much smaller quilts from the rectangles. Here are two bundles.

Two bundles of rectangles for rag quilts

The third bundle

 I'm starting with the larger one first to make sure that I'm OK with the size. I may end up making two, but it's time to get these quilts made and donated. That takes up a lot of space in the studio! I started sewing this morning but didn't get too far with all the other stuff that I was sorting out.

I'm off for a fun day with quilting friends. So I had best get myself organized. Got to take my lunch but what to take?  That's the one thing I miss is not just grabbing something along the way. Since I won't eat bread, sandwiches are out of the question. Anyway, I'll figure something out.

And I've some AMAZING pictures to share with you from the show n tell at the classes yesterday. They were FABULOUS!!!!!

Have a SUPER DAY!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

Sew Fest

Oh, my god - the rain has stopped for the moment!  Actually, the pavement is dry in parts meaning that it hasn't been raining for a while. My kitchen floor looks like a mud pit. Those girls love to be in and out even in the rain and well - they're having a riot. Dogs are like kids - the dirtier they are, the more fun their having!

I'm embarking on a Sewing Fest for the next couple of days. Nothing official, just my own personal Sewing Fest as I attempt the impossible. How to get FIVE projects done in a few days!

I know - this has to stop because it's getting old.  OH NO - did I actually say that?  It's not that I'm about to give up quilting, it's just that every weekend, every evening, there seems to be something urgent to do and I'd like to mess around for a bit!

But I'm OK with that.  Spring Market is mere days away and that is the reason for this round of sewing.

I had a cutting session last night and here's the scrap basket.  Lots of pretty fabrics - brand new - you can't get your hands on them yet!

Pretty scraps in the basket

And here is my project box. There are four quilts in the box and one 3-D item.

Project box

One quilt is almost together, the backing and binding are cut and need to be sewn together. Perhaps one hour for that one. Needs to be quilted, bound, sleeve, and label by Friday.

Project two has been cut and parts of the fiddly units are sewn together. I've been doing it as enders and leaders and will continue. It has a very urgent deadline, has to be in the US by May 15.  Hopefully, finish piecing the top tomorrow.

Project three is cut out - lots of half square triangles which I hope to make today. Technically it should also be quilted and bound by Friday, but if not - TUESDAY next week.

Project four is partially cut out. It technically doesn't  have to be done by May 16, but I would like to take it to Spring Market with me. Of course depending on what it looks like. It's an experiment.

Project five is the 3-D one.  It doesn't have to be done, but I would like to take it to Market as well. It is super cute!

Wish me luck!!!!   We have a guild UFO day today and why not sew with the group than sew at home alone. I'm all packed!

The other day, I was rooting around in one of the closets upstairs where (YES) more quilting stuff is stored. Guess what I found?  Something that I wasn't even looking for.  A pair of scissors for clipping rag quilts!

Rag clipping scissors

 I knew that I had a pair and knew that I had no idea where they were, so I bought another pair when I needed them a couple of months ago.

Two pairs of rag clipping scissors

I know - that's what happens when you don't put your tools in their HOME location.  Both pairs of scissors are now with all the other scissors.  I wasn't so much into the organizing tools and notions when those scissors got put with the project that they had been designated for.

I'm smarter now (well maybe just a little!).  I have no choice, I can't afford the time to look for things!

And once this Sew Fest is over, the next one is lined up as I have a couple of lectures at Quilt Canada in June and there are a few projects that I NEED for the booth and for my demos. After that, a couple of quilts for magazines and then a breather for the summer!  Yeah, summer!

Speaking of summer, what happened? Did I miss something?  It's freezing outside and I'm about to go to the dog park. I guess I had better dress up like it's winter! The girls - they don't care!

Have a super day!


Ciao!!!!