Stitching witches

Well, it was off to the gym bright and early this morning to meet with Brooke. Can you believe it's been almost three months since I last worked out with her? Why? I was on vacation, then traveling, and now she's much busier than before! ACK -- I have to go on Thursday at 5 AM, not Friday, because someone else has that slot. 

And it was another productive day. The odd job is done and waiting to be picked up later today. I spent the afternoon doing some sewing, and everything turned out well. I'm also trying to read this monster fantasy book that someone recommended. DH also highly recommended it, and the storyline is good. I find that too much backstory is being brought in that we don't really need. I'm sort of skimming over those parts. But I'm down to 1/4 left to read. I should be able to do that in 4 days! One hundred pages a day! 

I don't have a lot of time to write today, with a dentist appointment and a one-time Zoom call tonight, so my schedule will be a bit off. 

I thought I'd share a project I finished a while back. At the Buckhorn Quilt Show, I was embroidering a witch. I ran out of thread near the end of stitching her face, as you can see from the slash in this picture. I thought I might embroider a bandaid there, or give her an eyepatch, but decided not to do either. I managed to get the same thread color, but in a 40-weight, not the 30-weight that I had used initially. It was the thicker thread (less on the spool) that got me into trouble in the first place. 

Ran out of thread for the face

The design was still in the embroidery hoop, so I pulled up the embroidery design to get started. I used the projection system to line the design with my stitching. 

Using the projection system

And this is what it looked like after the "patch" was stitched. I knew I'd have to go back and restitch some of the areas. While at the quilt show, I continued stitching, despite the big gap in the face! 

The entire face is now stitched

I also chuckle when people tell me how carefully they choose their colors. I just open the box and randomly pick something I like! 

My tangle of threads

Once the face was redone entirely - well, only the bits that needed to be redone - I was able to appliqué the hat on. 

Stitching the hat in place

Then I had to cut the excess fabric away. 

Cutting the excess fabric

And finally, I got out the embellishment attachment and my container of ribbon, which is so nicely organized. 

My container of ribbon 

And there is the completed witch - just in time for Halloween. 

The witch

If you look closely (you can't see in this picture), there are a couple of minor glitches resulting from my wild process to put this back together. I think part of the problem was that I didn't choose the same witch as I started with. There are three different ones, each with different hair. I'm not sure why I switched, and when I realized it was slightly off, I should have gone back to the original one. However, the misalignment is so slight that if I didn't mention it, I bet you wouldn't even notice it happened. And yes, if you look closely, you can see the "scar" on her face, but it all adds character!!

I'm pleased with it, and it's one more piece of machine embroidery done, and the hoop is now free. I have about four other machine embroidery projects on the table that I'd like to complete! My first priority is to finish prepping for those classes! One presentation is almost finished, and the photos for the second are done. So I'm in good shape and still have two entire days to work on that. 

I love having "free" time. 

I also have a dentist appointment, and I know the dentist is going to yell at me. So be it! 

OH -- something bad happened yesterday. OK -- it wasn't bad at all, but a friend I met on a cycling trip sent me a link to a hike. Obviously, I've not done this hike. It's on a different continent, and OH --- should I go? I'd better get my butt into the gym five days a week to train for it! I'm still debating and need to do a bit more research. 

This is the SECOND invitation I have for a hike for 2026. Hmmmmm - I need to think long and hard about each. But not before chatting to the two people and then doing some research on both! 

Ooops -- I forgot to post the links to the Virtual Retreat this weekend. 

Saturday, October 18  --- 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 - Starts at 3 PM EDT  (anyone want to start earlier?) 

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! Dogs to walk, dentist, and sewing! A fun day!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Take time for yourself

First I have to say a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to those that showed up for the West End Modern Quilt Guild (unofficial title) meeting yesterday!  I was totally blown away by the response.  Now don't get me wrong - there weren't hundreds there, but given the fact that some couldn't make the time and date, we had an excellent showing for a first meeting. Get this - we already discussed and decided on a cap to the number of people in the group!  I know - first meeting and we're talking capping the numbers!

I'm super excited - it's a good group of people with a huge variety of talents and quilting backgrounds. At this point, I'm not sure if there is any room left!  BUT for those of you who have e-mailed me (and sorry - I haven't responded) and for those that I have already sent an e-mail to - you are on the list if you wish to officially join the group.  I'll be compiling and sending out an e-mail later today to all of you who responded.

The meeting was amazing, so many questions, so much to learn from each other - hence the reason to keep it small so we can ensure that the hands-on experience and answering everyone's questions will be met.  I did take some pictures which I'll share later this week.

Normally at a guild meeting, I have a quick bite to eat before I get to the meeting. This past week, that didn't happen as the traffic was bad and I had promised the speaker I would be there at a specific time. I got the speaker organized and then went to get a sandwich and when I got back, I managed to eat the sandwich while chatting to a lot of people.

Someone mentioned to me that I should ensure that I take time for myself.   Despite the fact that you all think I'm running around like crazy, I would like to say that NO ONE should worry about that. I've very good at taking time for myself. Yesterday, I went to lunch with a few of the meeting attendees and when I got home at 2 PM, I grabbed a chair and a book and the two dogs and we sat in the backyard until 6 PM when it was getting cool, they were getting hungry and I finished the book!  Yes - I should have been quilting, but we had more important things to do!  It is very hard for me to keep my nose out of a book and I have averaged almost one a week for the last 10 years.  Nope - I don't think I'm sacrificing ME time to anyone!

Here's another picture of a project that I did at the retreat. My witches!!!!

Witches

This a pattern from Buggy Barn. You are supposed to use EIGHT blocks in the quilt and what do you do with the last one?  Well - I'm changing it up and putting all nine blocks in the quilt. As I was working on this quilt, I realized that I only had EIGHT pairs of legs, not nine.  Someone reminded me that they remembered this same scenario from a previous retreat and guess what - I never put fabric in for the last pair of legs.  The fabric is NOW in the project box so it will get done this next retreat. But this time at least, I did get the blocks sewn together. They were only half sewn last time.

I swear I also had a basket with more fabric for this quilt hanging around the studio. I looked but didn't find anything.  I did find the one I was looking for in the Halloween fabric stash so I must have filed everything away BEFORE the quilt was done.  GASP!!!!   Anyway - I will trim the blocks before I leave and cut the necessary pieces so the quilt can be assembled. It may not have borders, but it should be together.

So far, I'm respecting the two tote limit and I'm thinking that I might not even get through the first one! We'll see. There are lots of small things that need to be finished or advanced to the next stage.  It might not take as long as I think to wing my way through them. No worries, there is a HUGE project in the second tote that will take days just itself. I won't run out of things to do.

It certainly hasn't been a week for sewing.  Look - I haven't even unpacked my sewing machine yet. It's still in the front hall. That has never happened to me!

No sewing machine set up!

 I've been trying to clear up the mess from all the coming and going these past two weeks.  This is how the studio looked this morning.

The cutting mat was a mess

The staging area (you can never have too many of those!) was also a mess

The ironing board was a write-off

I'm happy to report that the cutting table is now free (at least half of it) and I've been busy prepping things this morning. A couple more to cut and then I'll be packed and ready for the retreat.

The ironing board is in pretty good shape as well. The staging area?  Well - there is stuff there that needs to be prepped for the retreat. I hope by Tuesday evening, it will be clear.

Got a couple of small URGENT projects that need to be done by tomorrow AM. They are cut and ready to sew. Guess I'm going to have to get that sewing machine downstairs. And I've loaded a quilt on the long arm this morning so that needs to get done before I leave as well.

Never a dull moment. I don't think I'll be sitting outside with the girls today - but you never know. I do require a break from time to time and I have a new book sitting here waiting for me to start.

The girls and I have already been to the dog park. They're just a pair of loony tunes, but I see that Lexi was blogging again!

On that note - I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!