Out with the old and in with the new!

Mission accomplished! The two (lengthy) presentations are together! I love putting the presentations together, and I spend quite a bit of time sewing, taking pictures, scouring the internet for inspiration or ideas, and amassing the information into a somewhat cohesive storyline that makes sense! 

And I learn so much from doing that. It's amazing what you can find on the internet these days. And yes -- you must be careful that what you see makes sense. It has to make sense to you, but it might not make sense to the next person. Or you may not like the idea. It's a crap shoot, but if something does NOT make sense or seems like extra work, or a waste of resources, then move on because someone else will have a better idea. 

After much research, I found something that blew me away. I can't share it with you until after I present it, but OH MY—why didn't I think of that? So that meant a wee shopping trip, and I can't share with you what I purchased either! Tomorrow. 

I just need to make sure the internet is stable this morning so we don't have a repeat of last month. That was the most distracting thing when the internet went down VERY frequently. I was highly frustrated, and so was the group. 

I want to clarify one thing I mentioned yesterday: the gift-giving thing. I know I said this last year, but it's essential, and I'll repeat it this year. If you feel that a particular person in your life is gift-worthy, but you have no idea what to get them, there are loads of ideas -- books, hobby supplies, puzzles, wine, food, or whatever. The ideas are endless. 

But let's say you have no idea what to get them. Guess what? Why not give them the most precious and unique gift of all? YOUR TIME! Why not schedule a special lunch, or even lunch at Tim's—it doesn't matter. What matters is that you are connecting face-to-face (with your cell phones in your pocket) and actually talking to someone! 

With all this talk about hating Zoom because you like to see people in person, this would be the ideal gift for anyone! You aren't running around trying to find last-minute gifts - what size sock does Suzie wear? And the recipient doesn't end up with a gift they have to regift! 

YOUR TIME is the most precious thing you can give. Give it wisely, but that 2 hours out of your day (you would be spending it running around trying to find a gift) can change someone's life. It can change your perspective and theirs on life. Try it!! And put the *&^%^% ogibe away!!!! Not into lunch? Why not go hiking, biking, shopping, or whatever, but spend QUALITY time with someone instead of buying a gift? This works exceptionally well for the more experienced people in our lives. They would love it if you spent an afternoon visiting - maybe helping them with chores around the house or whatever, instead of another candle to add to the clutter. 

And if they are not gift-worthy and you are buying simply because that is something you always do or you feel compelled to buy, then think deeply and hard. Why are you doing that? Just say, "No gift exchange this year," and cross them off your list! We did that years ago with my family, and we have ZERO regrets about it. I only buy for one person, and that is M. I think Dillon was more excited about the gift than she was, and that's OK. It's something they (Dillon) wanted, but they will both use! 

Something weird happened in our neighborhood yesterday. I had filled the car up with gas the afternoon before because the price drops during the day and is highest in the morning. However, when I walked past the gas station in the morning, the price was ONE CENT lower than I paid the day before! How did that happen? And it did NOT drop by 10 cents throughout the day. 

The morning gas price

I found my Christmas tree quilt and hung it up! 

My Christmas tree quilt

I probably say this every year, but this is my first quilt published in a magazine!!! That was way back in 2015 or 2016, for a Christmas special published by Quilter's Newsletter. There was loads of excitement that day! It's a modern Christmas tree, and I love it!! 

While it comes with "built-in" ornaments, I added a couple more. 

Princess Lexi

Miss Murphy

And the tree would not be complete without Mr. Bear! 

Mr. Bear

It's a cute (and easy!) way to decorate, and since we don't exchange gifts and it will be a quiet day, I'm not inclined to go to the hassle of putting up a real tree. I'm not big on the decorating thing anyway. I'm a plain Jane and proud of it! But I have a wreath on the door, a table runner on the table, and my Christmas tree quilt. All I'm missing is that Christmas quilt on the bed. I might dig that out this morning! 

What I don't get is why people feel the need to outdo others. Why? I have zero desire to be better or wiser than anyone else. I'm just happy if I survive another day, with no broken bones and my marbles still in my head! And that I'm happy, relatively healthy, and pretty carefree. 

On my travels in the car yesterday, I was across the street from a Mark's Work Wearhouse, and I needed new winter boots. I have a perfectly good pair of boots, but they are very tight on my feet, and I'm not a fan of wearing them. So I got pretty much the same type of lace-up boot, but several sizes larger. I also have a pair of low slip-on winter boots that are also too small, and I rarely wear them. Both of those will go in the giveaway box, and I'll manage in my running shoes, which I mostly wear anyway, but with deeper snow, I now have new boots.

Out with the old

In with the new

I might actually enjoy wearing them. I'm not going to replace the short boots. The number of pairs of shoes I own could probably be counted on one hand. Maybe two if I find a pair of dress shoes. Yep -- I'm a simple, country girl with loads of enthusiasm, and I wouldn't change that for an instance. 

I am not a fan of FREE things; however, I got something free yesterday. A free hat! When the cashier said that, I dreaded what FREE thing he was going to give me. It turned out to be a pretty decent toque! I had a choice between red and black - of course, I chose red. It had a $30 price tag! 

My new red toque

And the nice thing is, it has a fleece band on the inside. I am not a fan of knitted hats because the wind blows right through them. But the fleece definitely helps. I might wear it today while walking the dogs. 

Fleece lining for the ears

My winter Tilley hat is getting stretched, and I need to find a way to tighten the earband. I've had that thing for eons, and I LOVE it. I must figure out how to pull the band in tighter, as one ear always gets cold on windy days, and it keeps moving around on my head! 

Miss Murphy is so needy these days, she is driving me mad. She insists on leaning against me or my SIL as we are working. It's not enough to stop and give her some well-deserved hugs, but she continually comes back. Then I "yell" at her that that's enough, and she goes away to sulk. 

MOM - you don't love me anymore! 

And to keep her entertained for a few minutes, I wrapped up her favorite toys in the blankets. That lasted all of five minutes, and she had found everything. Sigh!!!!! Then we played ball. She has DADHD -  Dog ADHD.

MOM - I love playing with the blankets

But then, she does have a few quiet moments from time to time! 

MOM - I'm exhausted

Is anyone watching Project Runway Canada? We watched two more episodes last night and are up to date. BUT we have a question. In Episode 4, the guest judge is Mei Pang. What the heck was she wearing? Whatever she had on under that T-shirt made her look very distorted. It was not pretty at all. Click on the link to see an enlarged picture. 

I haven't done anything for the presentations tomorrow, but both are mostly show-and-tell; there is NOTHING to prepare to teach. I only have to get some sewing done, take some pictures, and then put the presentation together. It shouldn't take long to do both. Phew!!!! That is cutting it by the wire, but this is my one busy weekend per month. And the two weeks away didn't help the situation. 

Next year will be better! Am I stressed? Of course, not! I don't stress. Life is too short to waste time being stressed. Another good reason to be a plain Jane - no stress!

The girls must have sensed a rabbit under the gazebo this morning because they were desperate to get outside. And they have amused themselves for quite a while. 

And on that happy note, I'm out of here!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

UFO Show n Tell

I thought I'd share the UFO show and tell with you today.

Last year, I started a UFO club. Each person paid a fee to join the club and then put some money in the kitty that they would get back once they finished their assignment for the month. Each person gets to choose how much or how little they do, depending on their schedule for that month. I think that at least half of the group members work full time - some at home and some at their actual place of work.  It's a small amount - $10 per month, but that's enough to get people fired up!

I don't think that it's just the money. I think many of us are sitting on a bunch of UFOs and well - we know that if we don't come home one night, who is going to clean up our studios? Many of those UFOs will get tossed as no one will be able to figure out what was supposed to happen - some parts might be missing or the pattern.

The purpose of the club is to get everyone on track. And that's what has happened. Everyone who signed up for the first year resigned up for year two, and we added a couple of people. We've been doing the show and tell on Zoom, so anyone can participate! Watch for the sign-up for next year. That'll be coming in the fall. I'll keep the groups small (in case we need another group), so we can get our show n tell covered in one hour.

Now we had not planned to work through the summer, and so there was no money in the kitty for July or August, but the group really wanted to have a deadline and to "meet." So I made that happen. Even with NO money on the table, the amount of work that got done was crazy. Let's have a look.

Katheleen is working on Snow Days - a pattern by Crabapple Hill. She now has Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 together with all the embroideries done. There are something like 14 sections in the quilt - I didn't remember that there were that many. The blocks for the center are done as well, and that's her goal for the upcoming month - sew the center together and join a few more sections. Oh yes - there's no stopping these guys! They wanted to meet in August as well!

Katheleen's Snow Days UFO

Thankfully, there wasn't money on the table this month because I didn't get my homework completed. I did, however, start to sew the red and white log cabin blocks together. It shouldn't take that long to finish this off as I now have 16 larger blocks and that one row to sew together.  That's ONE of my goals for August. This quilt top, the binding, and the batting need to be organized.

My red and white log cabin quilt

I was very ambitious and wanted to have the Snail's Trails blocks completed as well. As you can see, that didn't happen. However, the good news is that all the components for the remaining blocks are cut out. I was lamenting that I still had TWELVE blocks to sew together. Then when we were sewing for Monday yesterday, I realized that I only have SIX blocks to sew together.

My Snail's Trails blocks

I'm happy to report that I got four of the remaining six blocks sewn yesterday, so that leaves TWO blocks left to sew. Then each block needs to be trimmed and then to sew the quilt top together. That's on my list to finish in August as well.

Those two items are the LAST two items on my 2017 UFO list. I will get that list done by the end of August, even if it kills me!!!

This is my yoga bag, and it needs the end seam allowances to be finished. That's on the goal for this month as well. This project is on my 2020 UFO list. 

The yoga bag is almost done

AND - I have one border to add to finish this project. That's also on the list of goals for this month. None of those jobs should take more than an hour or two. This quilt is also on the 2019 UFO list. I'm determined to get as many of those projects off the lists as I can. There are four still on the 2018 list, so those will become a priority for the remainder of the year.

The Easy Street quilt needs one last border sewn on

I also pulled a project from the 2020 UFO list that has to be sewn together. It's a quilt, and all the blocks are done. So that will be a bonus. And there's no money on the table so if I don't get it all done, that's OK. But I WANT it done.

Technically, Shelly didn't put anything on her list for this month. But that doesn't mean that she was slacking. Her son got married, and he wanted her to refurbish this wagon that I believe had been made by her son's grandfather. It's adorable and so yes - she finished something!

Shelly refurbished the wagon

Her goal for next month is to work on the embroidery on two blocks for Winter Wonderland. This is another Crabapple Hill pattern.

Block one for Shelly to finish

Block two for Shelly to start

Dede's goal was to get 124 half square triangles completed, and here they are!!  Dede will now be working on adding a border to the Patchwork Sampler quilt, and then these half-square triangles make the next border.

Dede's half-square triangles - DONE

Diane had these three peacock embroideries done and didn't know what to do with them. So over the last couple of months, she's been turning them into cushions for her sofa. The last one was completed this month! They look awesome!!!

Diane's three peacock cushions

Lynne wanted to get ONE of the 52 designs on her Dream Big panel stitched out. That was a bit dicey since she got the thread days before we met. But she did get the stitching done. This is tricky because the placement of the design is critical. I think she did a great job!!  She's going to be working on this project for August and wants to get at least 4 more designs stitched out.

Lynne's first design stitched out on the Dream Big panel

This is the layout of the Dream Big pattern

Diane P. is working on Stitcher's Garden. This is the FOURTH of these quilts that we've worked on in the UFO club. The other three are done, and this one is close.

She had three blocks to finish off, and all three got done.

The first block

The second block (which is actually two blocks)

The third block (which is actually 6 blocks)

Her goal for next month is to finish the last section of the quilt, which equals seven blocks. I know she can do it!!!!


I swear that Jane was looking for a gold star this month. Her goal was to get two borders on a quilt. That got done, and I believe the quilt is at her long arm quilter to be quilted.

Two borders added to this quilt

She wanted to get the binding on this quilt - one that she was working on throughout the UFO sessions. 

Jane's starry purple quilt

The binding is half on. She was experimenting with thread colors and stitches, and so it's not quite finished, but it's very close.

Working on the binding

She got the batting and backing together for another one of the quilts that she worked on during our UFO sessions, and that one is also with the long arm quilter to get quilted.

Off to the long arm quilter

She finished quilting this Christmas quilt and got the binding on it as well. See - what I mean about that gold star???? 

Jane's Christmas quilt is done

WAIT - there's more. She was also working on this quilt during our UFO sessions. It went to the long arm quilter, and now the binding is on, and this one is ready to gift!!!! I LOVE the picture - it's a perfect setting for that photo. Way to go - Jane!!! And YES - you get a gold star.

Jane's sailboat quilt

Linda was also on a roll this month. She's been quilting her own quilts and went gangbusters. This is a panel that she added a border to. Then quilted it and got the binding on. This one will go to the local guild's community projects.

Linda's child's quilt -- DONE

Another panel that's quilted and bound.

Another panel quilt - DONE

This was a top belonging to the community projects at the local guild. It's now quilted and bound.

Community projects quilt - DONE

BUT this is what her real homework was. To get this Christmas quilt done, and it's done!!!  I love it when we get on a roll and get one thing done and then keep going. That's called motivation. I LOVE IT!!!

Linda's Christmas quilt - DONE

Isn't that exciting to see the progress made on some quilts and see so many finished quilts? There are others in the club, but they didn't have anything on their plate for the month, or I didn't get the homework pictures. A few of them set a goal for the summer, so their work isn't really due until September!!!

It's all about moving forward, however slowly.

Great job to everyone, and so today, I'm scheduling ONE DAY where I can work on those UFO projects and get them done for this month. I want to move on to something else.

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!