On ordering food

Happy Canada Day!!!! Look—I found a new pattern yesterday, and while I won't have time to make it for this year's Canada Day, it would be simple to make next year. I got it at Stitcharie, but I think I bought the last one, as someone else in the class purchased the second-to-last one. And we can celebrate Canada Day any day of the year! It will be great to use up some red and white scraps. 

New Canada pattern

I'm home! It sure feels great to be home, and I didn't find the drive that bad last night, though I did stop at one of the OnRoutes for something to eat. AH -- there is a Booster Juice at this location (Woodstock). I swear the two girls in front of me, one of whom was chatting merrily on her phone instead of with the person she was with, took forever to place their order. I had no idea what they ordered, but seriously - pick a flavor and be done with it. 

The world is getting so fussy, and there is a certain coffee chain that caters to this. The orders are so long and so complicated that you wonder why. If you want a coffee, then just order a coffee, and maybe you put sugar or cream in it, but all these options? Some of those "coffees" are laced with hundreds of calories, and then you wonder why our society is so unhealthy. But I digress. 

Wait --- while the staff member was preparing my Berry protein drink, the lady with the phone came back (still on the phone) and asked if she could have her smoothie thinned out as she couldn't drink it through the straw. It was a slow process to get my smoothie! When she first came back and asked for the drink to be thinned out, I didn't hear what the staff member said to her. The customer's response? "I don't have time for that!" 

My smoothie was the perfect consistency. I have no idea what the other lady's problem was. There are just customers like that, and there is nothing that you can do to please them. 

Anyway -- I digress. I will admit that I am tired this morning and will probably need a nap, and then we are on to change the leaders on the long arms - mine and hers! I'll remove my leaders this morning and clean the rails. WAIT --- I have to sew the metal bits in for the magnets. Yikes -- I completely forgot about that. Hmmm -- there might not be time for a nap!

We had great sessions on software at Stitcharie yesterday, with loads of questions, and many people went home with their heads full of information. Now it's up to them what they do with it. 

I wish I had access to a session like that when I was new to software. At least when I would have opened it, I would have had some idea of where to start. 

When I left the hotel in the morning, I decided to use the luggage cart instead of making several trips. It worked very well. 

Using the luggage cart

It was so cold in that hotel, I almost froze. The first thing I did, and I do in all hotels, is turn off the AC. It is set so high that I'm about to freeze to death. The lobbies and hallways were like ice boxes. I get it that people are hot, but the more you are used to the heat, the less it will bother you. We are NOT AC people at our house, and with a couple of strategic fans, it's just fine. 

Perhaps by the fourth day of this heat wave, we will turn on the AC just to get rid of the humidity in the house. But the basement is like a refrigerator, and with the dehumidifier going, it's comfy once you start moving. 

Before "work" yesterday, I went to Tim's, and this sign is located on the side of the building. 

Outside the Tim's

Other provinces have similar signs with their own provincial symbols. Wait—after a little bit of research, I found the artist and some other information. Here's a screenshot from Cindy Scaife's Facebook page. 

The art at Tim's

I see they also have magnets for various areas of Canada. I am NOT buying the magnets. 

Tim's magnets

Nor did I buy a donut. 

The donuts stayed at the store.

But one thing that I noticed is that the person who comes into the store is THIRD in line to get served. What do I mean by that? Well, Tim's has always had a drive-thru. Well, maybe not at the very start, but it's known for its long drive-thru lines. And many staff members are assigned to fulfilling the orders from the drive-thru. 

A few years ago, they introduced mobile pickup ordering on the app. That has now taken second place for fulfilling orders. I watched a guy walk into the restaurant and step in front of me. He was older; I didn't argue, but I was standing at one of the order counters, and he went to the other one and got served first. 

He got his coffee and left, and I'm still standing there. So I moved to that order desk. The staff member said, "Wait a minute," while he fulfilled a few orders and placed them at the Mobile Order Pickup spot. That location is for any orders placed on the app or at the in-store kiosk, which this store didn't have. Or at least, I didn't see it. 

The mobile order pickup 

This reminds me so much of being with a person, like the person at the Booster Juice stand. It's more important to talk to the person on the phone or to fill the order for the unseen person than to deal with the person standing in front of you. I felt invisible!!!!

One day, I will get the ordering right! But now that I am home, I don't need to worry about ordering anything. If I want a tea, I just go to the kitchen and get it. 

I had taken a drive around Petrolia earlier, and there are some amazing old Victorian houses. Some made from brick and some made from wood. All are beautiful, although some of them needed a bit of TLC.

But as I was walking back to the store from Tim's, I spotted a giant Canadian flag on top of a building. Hmmm—can you tell me how they get the flag up there? It would weigh quite a bit, and well, now I want to know!

How did this flat get on top of the building?

When I got home, I unloaded the car and unpacked the suitcases. I was tired, but not so tired that I couldn't at least empty the suitcases. I hate having my samples crammed into them, and when I pack up wildly as I did, I'm not always neat. So the two big suitcases got unpacked, and the items moved to their respective locations. Upstairs for finished samples, downstairs for working samples. 

This is what I faced this morning when I went downstairs. Of course,  Murphy was there to assist. It was more like supervising than helping. 

Mom - I'm here to help if you need me!

And there was a stack of items on the chair that needed to be dealt with as well. 

More items to sort

There were items on the cutting table, but as I made progress, they were put away. With the two trips back-to-back, there was no time in between to deal with stuff. I now have a handful of thread to find a home for and then to tackle putting away the remaining things on the right-hand side. I have one urgent project to work on, and I have two weeks to make that happen. The items I need are in that envelope. Stay tuned! 

The cutting table is almost clear.

I'm happy to report that the items on the table and on the floor around it are put away. Yeah!!! I now have room to move the stuff from the chair to the table. That will leave my chair free to operate the sewing machine, which I will need as I sew the metal for the magnets into the leaders. 

Good progress on tidying up!

There is a pile of samples beside the sewing machine that I want to tidy up. 

Samples that need some tidying up

I love making technical samples. The ones that show you the good, the bad, and the ugly. But often the edges of the single fabrics go unfinished. It would take no time (yeah right!) to trim them to a nice size and serge the edges. 

Samples need to be upped in finished quality just a bit.

So I set those samples aside, and they will look a bit more professional the next time I pull them out. 

I also have a pile of things on the stairs to bring up. Don't yell at me; this is a good place to put them, and they never stay long. I have already brought up a fair amount of it. I am super careful of stairs, both up and down. I am very aware of that stuff, and since I am the only one who does the stairs, I'm not worried. By the time my helper comes for the long arm, this will be all dealt with. 

Things to bring upstairs

And that's it for today. I can't wait to see how this leader thing goes. I have THREE leaders to sew the magnets into. That means marking the stitching lines and then sewing. Neither should take too long, but there are three of them! 

The girls are happy that I'm home because that means they are going to get a walk despite the heat. I might make it a bit shorter, but they will tell me what they want. They don't care about the heat, at least when it comes time for a walk. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Unpacking from quilt retreat

OH ---- I learn so darn much from all of you that it blows my mind! I just read the comment because we were discussing ways to use up those partially wound bobbins. Well, why can't you use the partially wound bobbins (from the long arm) to piece with, but on TOP, not in the bobbin? DUH!!! I knew that!!! LOL

Perfect because there are some rogue colors in those bobbins that have been there for eons, and well, I don't need them. Here's the thing, because I'm sure many of you are gasping at the thought of using all these rogue colors to piece with. If the tension of your machine is good, NO ONE will see what color of thread you pieced with. 

Speaking of bobbins, I'll get to my story in a minute. 

We got the cars packed, the retreat house tidied, and the dishwasher turned on. I usually remember that about halfway home. I restarted my phone, and guess what? There were no issues with Android Auto timing out with the car. I should know that. Of course, DH asked me when I told him the story how often I restart my phone. HEY --- I restart my phone often enough, but it just never occurred to me to do it with the car. 

Like a computer, one should restart anything "smart" fairly often because updates are constantly happening - not that frequently, but often enough. The memory can become bogged down, or something else happens, but regularly rebooting is a good practice. 

It was nice to get home - poor Murphy is getting beside herself with all the coming and going in our house. She has another 11 days of it to deal with, and then everything will be back to normal. At least for those eleven days, I should only be out of the house for about six of them and not home for three nights spread out over the eleven days. 

And NO ONE believes me when I say October, November, and December will be quiet. NO ONE!!! Here's the thing -- my events have to be scheduled months in advance or at least four weeks, and there is NOTHING in the works. December is always a quiet month, so at this point, it all looks quiet. What could possibly get scheduled to cause issues? 

I will have a lot of work I want to do, but it shouldn't be overwhelming with events and classes. 

OK, here is the progress report on what I did yesterday morning before we left. I emptied a whole lot more bobbins - well, this was since Friday. What is left in that bobbin case is not a lot. I kept six bobbins because they were the new style. And there are four partially wound bobbins to deal with. One had Perle cotton on it, and I took it off when I got home. YES -- I put it with the rest of my Perle cotton threads. 

The bobbin situation when I left the retreat

I have one more of those bobbin holders, and it's also filled with this type of bobbin, all of which are partially wound. We will NOT go there and ask why I have so many. HEY ---I already gave away a huge pile of this size bobbin to someone else. They were all the multi-colored ones - I hope they were the new ones. In this bobbin holder, there is a different style bobbin as well, so I need to move those to a new place, as I sometimes get other machines that require that other size. I should do a post about bobbins one day!

My smaller-sized bobbin collection

I put three empty bobbins in my retreat supply box because it's good to have them handy for upcoming retreats, as I won't have these holders with me once they're empty. Then both of these holders went into the retreat bag for the next retreat, which is in December. OK -- so I'm away in December, but there is nothing else where I have to be away. Well, that's a lie since there is a guild talk in November. But that's it!!!

I feel pretty good about clearing up those bobbins -- don't worry, I have two more bobbin holders for the EPIC and icon series of machines, and let's not forget those long arm bobbins. It's kind of good to clear them up and start over! 

It will take a LOT of piecing to make that happen. 

I also got some more enders and leaders sewn together. When I got home, the bag was set beside the computer, and I hope to tackle that at the Virtual Retreat because I can set the laptop up by the ironing board or cutting table and press and trim to my heart's content without focusing on what I'm doing. I'm such a big talker, I don't get much done during those events. 

My ender/leader project

And here's my Halloween quilt. I got all the squares sewn together, and the first border is on! If I had gotten up early like I had planned to, I could have put the second and final border on. 

The tenth retreat quilt top is only missing one border

Here's what the second border looks like. I will not put this in the retreat bag for the next retreat. I should be able to get that border on in October. 

The border for the Halloween quilt

And of course, I had to put one last piece in the puzzle before I left. We left it up, and the house owner says it is fine to stay for the next retreaters!!! So imagine their surprise when they get there and there's a half-finished puzzle. I would be thrilled to death!!!! 

The puzzle progress

Can you believe I dug out a puzzle last night and put it on the stairs so I can take it up to Studio U? Yes --- I am going to delve into that pile of puzzles. I need to do that before I buy any more, and there are always good ones at the thrift shop!!!!

These were the only four project bags I took to the retreat, and they mostly carried the dog fabric quilts and fabrics. One by one, they were dumped on the cutting table, and I dealt with all the stuff. 

My project bags for this retreat

First up was to put the dog fabric away. I retrieved the basket from the stash room, and these were two pieces I had not taken with me. They are canvas/tapestry dog-themed, and I'll have to make something out of them or sell them. 

Canvas/tapestry dog fabric

I had purchased this piece of fabric years ago. OK -- let's face it -- that is NOT a dog print. It's more like a wild animal with big claws. It is now in my backing fabric pile for the community projects. 

Wild animal track print

There are many fabrics that I pull out of any basket and question why I purchased them. This is a draft stopper. You sew the two bits together (front and back), and why did I buy that? If anyone wants this, let me know (elainetheriault@gmail.com). It's yours for the taking. I do not want or need it. Or you could use it as a cushion! 

Dog-themed draft stopper! 

Here is the stack of quilt tops and fabrics that I pulled for the backs of these quilts. 

The pile of dog quilts and fabrics for the backing

Can you believe there is still this much dog fabric that went back on the shelf? See what I mean? Why the heck did I buy so much? I spotted a couple more panels in the basket, but they are more juvenile in style, so that's why they didn't go to the retreat with me. But wouldn't it be nice to say that in November, I'll pull this basket and deal with it? That would be amazing if I could tackle that. Let's wait and see. 

What remains for the dog theme

I pulled out the black and white scrap box, so there are loads of scraps in here that can be cut for that ender/leader project. I also set this beside the computer so that during a Virtual Retreat, I can go through the box and cut those 1½" by 2½" rectangles. 

The black and white scrap box

And now I'm all packed for the next retreat. The bag on the left has another ender/leader project in it (half-square triangles), a set of placemats, and my supply box. The bag on the right is the one I took and mostly brought back intact. It's filled with enough projects for a week. I'm ready!

I'm ready for the next retreat!

And there's the cutting table this morning. I have a few small things to deal with later today, and there are still those two projects that I must tackle, but that's after this next crazy spell is done!

The cutting table looks in good shape

I did take a wee break yesterday afternoon, and while I have a LOT of work to do, I spent a couple of hours just relaxing and finished my book. I needed to, and then I was able to sleep well. All is good, and I'm now going to walk the girls and head out to my meeting on the other side of the city. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The aftermath of a sewing retreat

I am thrilled to say that it took me three trips to unload the car once I got home from the sewing retreat. One for all the loose stuff in the front seat - water bottle, glasses, etc. And two trips with bags and the sewing machine. Wow -- I love that and I didn't run out of stuff to do! 

In the morning, we stopped in at a local quilt shop as they were having a sale, and a few things went into my bag. Suitable for backings at that price! I should take pictures to share. However, I have other things to share this morning. The store is located on a farm, and they raise Clydesdale horses. They are beautiful! 

Beautiful Clydesdale horses

While I was sewing in the morning, I peeked out the window to spot a chicken taking a stroll through the parked cars. I wonder if it thought it was going to find some goodies? 

Cluck - cluck! 

While I love being on a sewing retreat, I also love coming home and sorting through the project bags and getting ready for the next one. Don't ask! 

I made great strides and progress on that black and white project. A strip was sewn to both sides of the red squares, and I believe there are 40 of them. I don't remember. Then, my job was to sew the remaining small rectangles into pairs, so I could sew them to the sides, as shown in the bottom left, to form a square. 

My ender and leader project

I think I've completed about five squares. At least with this round, as there is another round of black on white to go on. I had a fifty-fifty chance that there was an even number of rectangles to make the strips. I lost! 

One rectangle left over

No worries. As soon as I got home, I grabbed the box with the black and white scraps and cut a new piece. I've no idea if I have enough or too many. I'll just keep sewing and let it be a surprise. 

My black and white scrap box

Now that the project is bundled back up into a plastic bag, it is ready for the next retreat. It's a good, mindless project to use as enders and leaders at a sewing retreat. 

Then I got serious about emptying the two project bags. The black and white quilt top I completed has been stored in the storage room, and I will add a backing when I get to it. The small Christmas one also went into the storage room, as that is where I store the community quilts. 

One of the project bags to unpack

These plastic bags that sheets come in are the BEST for UFO projects, especially those you are taking to retreat. I see people carrying plastic tubs filled with all kinds of stuff. I just want to take only what I need. For smaller projects, these zippered bags are the way to go! And nothing falls out of these ones with the zippers. They don't take up a ton of room either! They are my new best friend. You can put the components of a queen-sized quilt in one bag! I may have a few extras available if anyone is interested. I got a ton of them from Diane. 

Zippered bags

Someone brought me some new books, so they went onto the bookshelf. 

"New" books to add to the reading pile

As I emptied the bags of their contents, I went to my large retreat basket, which sits under a table, to find what was next on the retreat list. Usually, I'd take this huge thing, but it's heavy when full, so I now take the two smaller tote bags and it works! I filled my two project bags, and there are still three projects in this tub. They will have to wait for another retreat. This area was jammed before I removed the items for the last retreat. 

The holding basket for retreat projects

There are two bags filled with retreat projects for the next retreat. They don't take up a ton of space, they are light to carry, and when you have two - one for each side - you are balanced. No MORE taking copious amounts of stuff, and I will NEVER take a hard plastic case to a retreat again! Two trips into the house - and that included my clothes bag, my office bag, food, and the sewing machine! TWO TRIPS!!!!! Less the first one with all the crap stuff from the front seat. 

Almost ready for the next retreat

I also examined Diane's triangle project. Oh boy - I was right - it wasn't cut properly. 

The pattern said to cut equilateral triangles using a blunt-tipped ruler. I dug through my rulers and found these two. 

Checking for proper cutting

Depending on how you position the ruler, they are NOT equilateral triangles with a seam allowance at the top. So I'll position the ruler as shown above and trim off one side. Then it will sew back together again with zero issues. 

NO seam allowance at the one corner

It's going to be a great project to work on during the virtual retreat. So it is sitting beside my computer. And I must get out my heat press to prep the pieces of the Mondo bag lining and prepare the handles. Then it can go back to the next retreat so I can get it done! 

The project is waiting to be pulled apart

Of course, the girls were happy to see me. They had a dog sitter while I was away, as DH was also away. Not good timing, but that's the way it works at our house. They were quite clingy to say the least, but they didn't really want me - they just wanted a walk, and the second I went to the front door, they were right there! Look at those faces! Lexi is lecturing me, and I think Murphy thought I had food! Such cuties!

MOM -- we need a walk and we're hungry! 

I didn't sleep well last night. No - that's a lie. I slept well once I finally fell asleep. I got up many times - to use the bathroom, get water, eat, and mindlessly scroll on my phone. It wasn't until I wrote out a to-do list and started reading a novel that I found myself drowsy and asleep before I knew it. Sigh!!!!

But I was up at the usual time and off to the gym to see Brooke. Oh boy --- so much weight lifting! I'm tired! I think it's going to be a two-nap day! One for sure!

And YES -- there is a Virtual Retreat this weekend. It's going to be loads of fun as people recap what happened at Quilt Canada. Not that anything bad happened, but it'll be fun to hear people's perspective! The Virtual Retreat is open to anyone and is available on Zoom, completely free of charge. Here are the links. 

June 28 - STARTS at 6 PM

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

Meeting ID: 826 9370 2241
Passcode: 795071

June 29 - STARTS at 3 PM  (NOTE - the later start time!) 

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

Meeting ID: 810 7353 6036
Passcode: 596838

And on that note - I'm out of here. I have a very long to-do list, and I still need to clear that cutting table so I can get some work done! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Home sweet home

Well, I'm back home, and it feels great. We have Monday sewing as a distraction today, and then it will be heads-down while I get some work done, and there's a lot to do. 

But let's look at what happened yesterday. OH -- we had a lot of snow overnight, and it was still snowing into the morning. Which wasn't a bad thing. I acquired my steps by shoveling the front step TWICE, shoveling around some of the cars, and a path to the cars! How nice I am! The laneway was a bit deep, but I followed in the tracks of those with the bigger cars, and I made it out with no problem. 

When I pulled onto my street, DH was in the driveway, just finishing clearing the snow (how fortuitous was my timing?) The garage door was open, so I backed the car in and unpacked. And this is ALL The stuff that I had to unpack. Good grief -- I swear I would come home with less than I went with, but that wasn't the case. I dropped off a sewing machine and its accessories but picked up five quilts to quilt!

All the stuff to unpack and sort

Thankfully, I had packed the car as the week went along, so there wasn't much to put in the car yesterday. But there was enough. 

I love the unpacking process. I get to put things away or set them aside to be processed later. And I do it bag by bag. The first bag I grabbed was the Boho Heart bag. I knew I had to find some fabrics, so I pulled out the basket of black and white. 

Searching for missing fabric

I laid out the quilt to see what was missing, and I needed three fabrics. I found two, but not the third, so I'll go back to the scrap box to see it there, and I may have to find a substitute scrap. Who will notice? I left this project out as it needs to be done as my homework for the remedial Jen Kingwell class. 

Boho Heart

Then I did the same thing with the Kansas Troubles improv blocks. I was looking for a sashing fabric and pulled out the basket of material to see what I could find. 

Searching for Kansas Trouble fabric

I wanted a lighter color, and I auditioned a couple and picked one. I put the fabric in the bag, and I'm still determining when I'll get to this one. 

Kansas Troubles improv blocks

I was on a roll, so I pulled out the blue basket to find the missing fabric for the Tumbling block quilt. I was almost done with the blue fabrics, so I remembered it was NOT in that pile but in a project box. 

Searching through the blue fabrics

While searching, I found this bundle of three one-yard pieces I passed over MULTIPLE Times. Guess where it went? Yep -- in the queue for Diane. I told you - NOTHING is sacred as far as the fabric goes. I found another piece that will work nicely with these; I will never make anything, so why keep it? 

Fabric in the donation pile 

Then I went and pulled the Tumbling Blocks project box off the shelf. There's all the missing fabric, and there is still a LOT of it. I will NOT use up all the fabric, but I will only let it go once this top is done. 

The fabric for the Tumbling block quilt

I also found three pieces that have been assembled. In addition, I finished two table mats made for the nightstands, which got used. 

Partially assembled sections of tumbling blocks

For some reason, I trimmed that one on the left. I will remove the trimmed bits and add enough to all three, so they can be sewn together to make the top larger and use up all those darn diamonds. Yes -- I know it'll take a long time, but I don't care. I would like to say it is done, and that's that. The pioneer in me, and in keeping with the "true" nature of the original or quilting, I want to use up the bits and get this done. 

Extra white and some medium scraps went into the bag with the diamonds. I'll work on it at a retreat, so this project can go back into the retreat box. 

Oh, how I laugh when I see this ruler. Remember, this is the FIRST serious quilt project I undertook, and there was this EASY SIX ruler to cut diamonds. I NEEDED that ruler and searched far and wide to get it. 

The Easy Six ruler

Now I simply use my Omnigrid 6" by 12" ruler. There's no need for specialty rulers, but what did I know back then? 

Did you notice something above? Yes --- I have a room filled with fabric, yet I'm happy as a clam working with the scraps -- improv blocks, small diamonds cut years ago, and I'm quite excited to give away those yardage pieces. I have to laugh -- I know where my heart lies! 

Oh dear -- this is what happened to the Boho Heart quilt when it was on the floor. 

What happened to Boho Heart

You can guess what happened. Murphy came with her ball and plunked herself on the quilt, and when she got up IN A HURRY, the quilt got scooched around. It's now lying on the cutting table. 

Mom -- thank goodness you are home! 

The cutting table got crammed with stuff and then bit by bit (and bag by bag), it all got put away. It's clear as ever and waiting for me to do some cutting today. There's only one thing that needs to be taken downstairs, and there are a few things at the bottom that needs to come up. But for the most part -- all is good. 

I was exhausted, and my only walk of the day was to take both girls on one walk. I did not walk at the retreat as there was too much snow for my short boots, although Helen Anne went out. I still walked almost 12 KM. That resulted from shoveling, packing, and unpacking cars and putting things away!

OK -- that's all I have time for this morning as I must get off to spin class. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!