I can DO THIS!

The weather here is PERFECT. I'm afraid to say anything in case I jinx it. But it's not overly hot (I know others would disagree), there's a nice breeze (which we enjoy with our windows wide open), and it's great for sleeping. And with all the money we save on A/C, I can buy something - NOT fabric. I've been taking long walks in the afternoon - no girls, it's too hot for their unruliness. Most things are within walking distance from me - the bank, the grocery store, the mall, the library, the bookstore. We live in a perfect location!

I accomplished quite a bit yesterday. Working on a secret project which will be published next week so I'll share that with you then. My computer desk is pretty neat (which is very unusual) and I'm liking it very much. Slowly plugging my way through this paperwork and phone calls. I'm feeling very good about myself. But it's amazing how many crappy little things we can accumulate in a day. What to do with them? These are the kind of things that become clutter. I've come across tons of this stuff in the last couple of days because of not dealing with it before. It's piled in a box, which I know isn't good. I should be taking each item and dealing with it once and for all when I touch it. But there is only so much of that that one can do in a day. I'll be sharing some of that with you. I'm sure you have your own crap around the house. Sometimes, we just need permission to let it go!!

I don't have an official day job, but yet, I can barely get to my sewing machine for my own personal sewing. So nothing has been done on the double wedding ring - remember, I still have that one row to finish sewing on. I did enjoy the process of working on only one project while I was at the retreat and I had told the ladies that I had the perfect project to bring to the next retreat.

When I got home, I dug out the project. OH - we might want to rethink that thought. Here is the pattern - it's called Circle of Life by Jacqueline de Jonge.

Circle of Life by Jacqueline de Jonge

Here's the basket of fabric - a big basket of batiks and other stuff since I wasn't able to find some batiks in those bright colors - in particular, the yellows.

Basket of fabrics for Circle of Life quilt

 However, I thought I had actually made progress on this quilt. But NO - I have only made this one diamond!!  That means I would have a LOT of work on this quilt. I might just suck it up and take it anyway. I have a road trip tomorrow and I might just put on my list to find some bright yellows. If I search through that basket to find what I'm missing, I might just put this in the bag for the retreat. YES - I can do it!!!!

One diamond is sewn - that's it!!

I could make quite a dent in this project over five days, but it's not on my UFO list and I might be better to take those projects with me if they're not done by then. I had better get working on those UFOs or I'm going to be in trouble at the end of the year with more projects still NOT done. Those UFOs are going to become the focus of my Mondays since that seems to be the only day I get to sew in the week.

I should sew more in the evening, but that's my reading time and after sewing all day or quilting for others, I'm just not in the mood to do more sewing for me.

Here's a picture for a good laugh. I have my computer desk in the office as well as another desk and a table. The surfaces of all of them were heaped. The computer desk is in pretty good shape (now). This particular desk is going to become the dumping ground for a wee bit longer. The table is in better shape and I hope to soon have some space where I could actually do some of the sorting instead of on the kitchen counter.

A dumping ground - but it's better than it was

Here's a picture of the table. Not bad - not good, but getting better. I was listening to a webinar yesterday and happened to turn around and looked at the table. I got quite the chuckle. Do you see how many ORANGE things are on the table? Quite a few!!!!

That's a lot of orange things

I got another customer quilt done. Actually a wee bit behind on sharing these photos with you. I've got more done and loaded a HUGE one this morning ready for later today to get it quilted.

Customer quilt

Hmm - what links to share with you today. OK - here's a good one. It's about a designer/creator who decided to throw in the towel and get a day job. It's a super tough business to be in and to make a living. Why? Because there's so much FREE stuff out there. Do you notice how many giveaways there are? Free fabric? Free patterns? Why?  Because people want to be LIKED. Today, everything is measured in clicks, hits or likes. The competition is fierce. And if you, the consumer, had a choice between a pattern that you can get for free or one that you have to buy - which one would you chose?

Anyone can set up a blog or a website or a Youtube channel. With some of the tools out there, it's easy to design a pattern, (not as easy to write, but doable) and since people are consumed by the desired to be hit, clicked or liked, they offer this stuff for free. These are the casuals in the industry. They don't necessarily need an income to survive which then makes it a challenge for those that need the income from this industry to survive. I hope that makes sense.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but the internet has opened up a whole other world where people are willing to give things away (not just in our industry), so they can be LIKED. That's very sad that they feel this need. This is going to become even more common as people are turning to their screens for friendship and entertainment. They are no longer getting the support they need from face to face communication and it's almost like buying the friendship. I'll give you THIS FREE THING if you like me. Now we're friends!!

I don't do any advertising and rarely do giveaways on my blog. If people like what they read, that's good enough for me and if no one reads the blog, that's good enough for me. I write the blog for ME, not for you!

But I'm OK if you read it!

Here's how I like to roll. And Murphy was a good little helper this morning so the paper didn't blow away.

On that note, it's another busy day and I'd better get started.

Have a super day!!

Ciao!

Retreat bags

There's just too much to share with you!!!!   My own stories and things I've found on the internet.

Where to start???  I need to get some of these links posted so I can close them in my browser. Otherwise, I'm going to run out of memory!!! Yep - already getting that message.

Here is the most adorable little film EVER!!!  And I mean LITTLE.  Check it out. Watch the first video which tells how the film was made and the second one is the actual film itself. Very cute and has a textile perspective to it.

And here's one more link for you to enjoy today. It's a new concept store that Joann's has opened in the US. I think this is a very important move for the craft industry. If shops don't start offering value-added services in-house, they are going to continue to lose business against online shopping. Let's hope that this store will be successful. I'd love to live near the shop and be able to "rent" their classroom space. That would be amazing!!!! Hmm - should I move to Colombus, Ohio? How far away is Colombus? It can't be that far of a drive. I haven't had a road trip - yet!!!

Hmm - then I could visit the bookstore in Chatham on the way. I might just have a look at that.

Let me chat about the class we did at the retreat and then I'll share my doctor visit story with you.

Although we've been to numerous sewing retreats, we've never had a class while we were at the retreat. We decided that it was time. We choose two patterns (thanks to Sue at Thimbles and Things) and we were set.  By the way, if you're not familiar with the retreat house we go to, it's called Fireside Retreat and is just FIVE MINUTES from Thimbles and Things.  (Tall) Sue from Thimbles and Things came to the retreat house so we didn't have to move our sewing machines. That was a huge bonus. Thanks to Tall Sue for that!! Although we had a choice of two bags, all of us but one made the same bag. It's called The Retreat Bag (how appropriate is that?) and it's a free download on Emmaline Bags website. Thanks so much to Emmaline Bags for the free pattern - it's a wonderful little bag. It does require a wire frame to keep it open, but in a pinch, you probably don't need to insert the wires.

The pattern offers two different sizes for the bag and some ambitious retreat goers made both. I had two cut out, but I only made one at the retreat. I came home and cut out one more, so the two of them are sitting here ready to sew.

The bevy of bags

Some people made matching bags - big and small from the same fabric. They are ALL adorable. They're easy to customize - just pick a print with someone's favorite thing, sport, or color and you're good to go. We had our bags cut out (well the others did - I hadn't completely gotten mine as prepped as much as some of the group). We were able to finish in the three hours allotted and the next one will go much faster.

We learned a lot of tricks, but of course, I'm not sharing those with you here! Oh no - you'll have to take a class.

Here's a close up of my bag. I know - it's not orange. It matches a pair of PJ pants that I have though!

My retreat bag - small

 I love how it opens up so you can see in all the nooks and crannies. That's because it has a wire frame around the top. Surprisingly that wireframe is a snap to put in. I thought it was going to be difficult, but it wasn't.

The bag opens up very nicely to put stuff in because of the wire frame around the opening

As you can see, it's a nice big opening and there are two pockets on the inside.

Nice big opening

 A number of different products were used in the construction of our bags. This bag has foam as the stabilizer for the outer fabric and a "regular" interfacing for the lining. She didn't know what kind of interfacing and I didn't check.

Foam is used to stabilize the outer bag

The end of the bag

 You can see that the foam gives the bag a nice smooth shape on the outside. It's a bit thicker than the others, but it seems to work just fine.


This person used fusible fleece for the outer bag and a medium weight stabilizer for the lining.

Fusible fleece and medium weight stabilizer

As per my norm (I don't deviate from my norm regardless of what the pattern says) because I like my norm. I used fusible fleece for the outer bag and Decor-Bond for the inside. Mine is stiff but not too stiff.

Fusible fleece and Decor-Bond used as stabilizers

Note the shape at the end of the small bag is different than the shape of the big bag

 This bag was made with what they called for in the pattern. Fusible fleece for the outside and ShapeFlex for the lining. ShapeFlex is a very soft interfacing. I'm not sure why the pattern would have called for ShapeFlex. I use it on my hand embroidery because it's so soft. Even though Decor Bond is very stiff and hard to turn inside out, the extra struggle is worth it.

The bag is a bit limp with the ShapeFlex used for the inner interfacing

The bag is perfectly fine and once you put stuff inside, you'll never know that it was a bit limp.

I guess the lesson here is that if you get a formula, stick with it. But it's OK to try new things. Just don't be afraid to do things differently from the pattern. Just because the designer says "do this", doesn't mean you have to.

Thanks again to Tall Sue and Short Sue at Thimbles and Things for making that class a huge success. I not only finished my bag in class (a first for me as I'm a bad student), but I learned a couple of neat tricks for making bags. That says a LOT!


I've been doing some quilting and here's the latest customer quilt.

Customer quilt - DONE

OK - so I have to tell you the doctor story. You might think that it is "too much information", but I think there's an important lesson here so I'm going to share the story with you.

It's not that I hate to go to the doctor. I don't mind but I really feel that there's no need. I'm in pretty good health. The last couple of times that I've been to the doctor, I've NOT gone for blood work, so I figured I was due.  I called my doctor on Tuesday morning not knowing that they don't open until noon on Tuesday. At noon, I got a call from the receptionist and due to a cancellation, I was at the doctor's for a physical at 2:30 THAT SAME DAY. "OH - you lost 6 KG. Did you want to lose 6 KG?" "Yes", I said. She didn't say anything else, but at least she didn't tell me to lose weight like she has every other time I visited. Yeah!!

 She took my blood pressure. "OH - do you lift weights?" "Nope", I said. "Do you run?"  "Nope. I ride my bike and I walk every day", I said. I guess my blood pressure was low. So when I was waiting in the drug store later, I took my blood pressure on the machine in the store. I love it - they have a new screen. Do you see that "normal" is in yellow!!!  But I'm way in the green OPTIMAL zone. Yippeee!!!!

Optimal blood pressure

I love that little screen. It's much better than the old one they had.

Did you know that your patient files are electronic? Well, my doctor had my file on a tablet - I don't remember that from last time. She walks in and announces that I'm overdue for a tetanus shot and I should get the shingles shot. The tetanus shot is free, the shingles shot is not ($400).  I opted for the tetanus shot. I remember people saying how painful this shot is. I asked her and she said, it's not that bad. Of course, that's what she's going to say. It wasn't that bad. My arm was a bit heavy the rest of the day, but nothing I couldn't handle. Shingles - well, I'm on the fence about that one. Yes - I know shingles are PAINFUL for a long time.

Next up - I can opt for a colonoscopy or that little sampling thing you do at home. I'll take the sampling thing, please.

I did walk out of there with a raft of requisitions. I need to get the blood work done - that will happen next week. I better schedule the darn thing in my calendar - you can't make appointments at my lab and I like to eat breakfast early. But you can register online and get a notification when it's close to your turn in line. But I have to wait for the sampling thing to be done as that goes in at the same time. Too much scheduling for me!!!

Have to pop in for an ultrasound even though I had a clear mammogram earlier this year. I've got a lot less fat than I used to have and the doctor couldn't get a good touch on the situation so it's just precautionary. Not the first time I've had to go for that. It's been so long that I've been there that the office to book these appointments has changed, but I went to the old place, but still got the appointment booked. Next week.

I'm pretty much in good health all around, but I do have one thing. I've known about it for a while but now it has an official name. It's called Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. Good grief!!!  (Although my research tells me that I just have a weak pelvic floor and not necessarily total dysfunction). I'm telling you about it because I'm not sure that you know about it. It's important. The doctor and I had a discussion about it and then I came home and did a bit of research. Wow - there is physiotherapy for this and well, I won't go into details, but yikes - who knew. I know exactly what happened to me. When M was born, I spent hours pushing. I didn't realize at the time, but I had literally stretched my pelvic floor all to heck. I couldn't walk without a walker for two weeks after she was born. I suppose at the time that someone should have looked after me, but it didn't happen. And I didn't know better.

I should have been doing exercises specifically to get that back in shape, but again - I had no idea. If you have a weak pelvic floor, I'd be doing a whole lot of exercises. And even if I didn't, I'd still be doing a whole lot of exercises. Seriously - you'll be happy you did. Check out that link!!

So - a wee bit of follow-up stuff in the next week and then I'm good for doctors for a long, long time (I hope).

I'm doing more tidying up in the office and I've got the paperwork set out for today. I'm loving this scenario. I wish I could go faster and get more cleaned up, but seriously - it's starting to look a whole lot better in here. There's still a long way to go, but I have a lot of work to do and not as much time as I would like to focus on that. Besides, I get bored very quickly doing all this cleanup stuff. I like to spend a few minutes a day and that works for me.

On that note, I'm out of here. Got lots to get done today.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!

Double Wedding Ring quilts

Have you ever made a double wedding ring quilt? I've taught this class numerous times and I've finished a small quilt with 9 "circles". So a three by three configuration.

But I've had a skeleton in my closet for years. Back when I was a newbie to quilting and anyone was getting married - I made grandiose promises about making them a quilt as a gift. Since it's a wedding, the quilt has to be a double wedding ring and it has to be bed size. What the heck was I thinking? Ah - totally clueless.

This particular couple (friends of DH which is an even worse curse!) got married years ago and I had promised them a full-size quilt in their color of choice (purple). I think I started the quilt before they got married. And I got a lot of it completed, but it sat for years untouched.

I had goals in previous years - this is the year that that quilt will get done. And it never happened. And DH kept harping - is that quilt done? Since I'm now in the process of getting things done, I decided to take that quilt to the sewing retreat last week. I had even "lost" this quilt in my studio for a lengthy period of time. But it was found under a box of something else deep in the stash room.

I took other projects to the retreat with me and the first day of the retreat was devoted to finishing a couple of things that needed to be shipped to magazines. Those are gone. We did have a class at the retreat and I'll share that with you tomorrow. The rest of the time I was there - 3 1/2 days were devoted to that wedding ring quilt. I know - I know - I must be totally sick because I never thought that I could do that. I did take a lot of breaks and much whining on my part - my poor retreat mates. But I made amazing progress.

I had decided a while back that I would no longer make one big quilt. That's pretty presumptuous to make a quilt for someone's bed. How do you know what they like? Maybe they have a bed in a bag and the quilt won't match or many, many other reasons to NOT make a bed quilt as a wedding gift. Nope - my new thing - make TWO quilts. Two lap quilts - they can get way more use - in the car, on the deck, on the couch, etc.

While I was teaching the double wedding ring quilt a couple of months ago, I took stock of what was in that box. 64 block centers which would have given a quilt in the 8 by 8 configuration. (8 by 8 would have been a 101" by 101" quilt - HUGE) So with those 64 centers, I could now make two lap quilts with 24 centers each (4 by 6  - 53" by 77") and a small quilt with 20 centers (4 by 5 -  53" by 65"). Perfect.

When I got to the retreat, I had already made one column with 8 centers so I ripped two off the end and then got busy. All the melons were sewn together so just needed to add the melons to the centers and I was off.

Don't let anyone fool you, this version of the double wedding quilt is a challenge. There is ZERO chain piecing. There is no sewing through the seam allowances, every seam has to be stopped and started at each intersection. 

I decided once I had the 4 by 6 configuration done, that it wasn't big enough. So I added one more column to make 5 by 6 -   65" by 77"  - way better.

Quilt top - number one - DONE!!!!

That was very exciting news and I never thought that I would stick at it to get that top done. But then I figured that if I had ONE done, I might as well keep going. So I continued to sew the melons to the center circles. Let's just say that the top needs a GOOD pressing. I didn't always press as I sewed and there are threads to trim on the back.

Can you believe that I got the SECOND top almost done? I was just going to see how it went, but then things were going great and I became determined to get that top in ONE piece before I left. So everyone has left the retreat, Sacha and I were still sewing. I managed to get that last column attached to the rest of the quilt. It's attached by TWO seams at the top, but good enough for me!! I can truthfully say it came home in one piece.

Second quilt top - ALMOST done

Yes - I seriously think there is something wrong with me. I've never stuck with that tedious of a project for that length of time. Yeah!!!!

Then it was home from the retreat to unpack the bags and there's that box with the double wedding ring sitting on the ironing board along with a bunch of other stuff. I'm happy to report, the ironing board is cleared off and I forged forward to open that box with the double wedding ring and see what could be done.

Ironing board to be cleared off

Now here's the thing - I still have some piecing to do. I'm don't have enough melons. Why???  Think about it - the original pieces were cut for an 8 by 8 configuration. The new configuration is two 5 by 6 and one 4 by 4 (instead of making the 4 by 5, I got a 2 by 2 - 29" by 29"). There's a whole lot of extra outside edges in the new configurations.

Two by two configuration (leftover centers)  

Five by six configuration 

So with all those extra outside edges, I'm short TEN melons. ACK!!!  I knew that, I just didn't realize that it was ten. I thought it was six.  No worries - the fabrics are still in the container.

I had a quick peek into the container and saw all the purples, but not that light center.

Purple fabrics in the container

 Hmm - ran to the purple stash bin and YEP - there's the fabric for the light purple centers.

Found the light purple in the purple stash bin

 Thankfully purple isn't one of my most used colors.

While I was poking through stuff, I found the wedding invitation!!!!   Oh god - they were married June 14th, 2003. I had said 15 years, but I was only guessing!!! 

Wedding invitation

I see they got married in Collingwood - I had forgotten that and they live in the same city as the retreat house. So it's only fitting that I sewed the quilts up there. My goal is to get these two quilts done by the next retreat. There's not a lot of sewing left and hopefully, the quilting won't take too long. Now that I have the computerized machine, it'll be a good test of doing a block design. I was checking patterns for double wedding ring out yesterday.

But first, I must sew those missing melons. Wait - I have to cut them first. So I got everything out on Monday evening and prepped to cut.

Prepping to cut the mising melons

 I like to use rubber cement on the backside of the templates to prevent them from slipping, but my rubber cement is dried up!!!  Only one template needed something so I managed without.

A rotating cutting mat works wonders for cutting with templates.

Cutting the individual pieces for the arcs

 As I was cutting, I realized that I'm missing one more fabric. The light purple in the bottom left (the four patches) - ACK!!!!!!  It's a fossil fern.

One fabric is missing  the light purple in the bottom of the arc

Back to the purple stash bucket and there it was!!!  Had a good laugh about that. 

The last of the fabrics was found in the stash bucket

I believe I left the fabrics in the project bucket that I could potentially use as the binding. Now that there were two quilts, there was only one fabric that was big enough to make bindings for all the quilts. The darkest one. The remainder were put back in the purple stash basket.

Binding fabric

 Now the arcs (needed to make the melons) are all cut and this will make a perfect ender and leader project for next Monday. It's in the Monday bag.

Cut and ready to sew ten more melons

Wow - that's super exciting news. I'm thrilled with my progress and can't wait to sew that binding down which will have to be by hand. No worries.

While I was busy all day yesterday, it was super relaxed and I got a whole lot done. Bills paid, phone calls made, things tidied up. I really can see a light at the end of the tunnel. The best part - nothing new is being added to the mess. As the mail comes in, it's dealt with immediately. I have a ton of filing to do, but I'm feeling in great shape.

I'll share with you what happened yesterday afternoon - it was a bit of a crazy afternoon, but all is good. Let's just say that my friends all said that I need to get to the doctor on a more regular basis and that's my story for tomorrow.

On that note, I'm excited to get back to the paperwork this morning and then back to the machine this afternoon.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Motivational Monday - HUGE leaps and bounds

I think I've finally settled into a good routine when it comes to Motivational Monday. I used to just throw stuff into my sewing bag and hope for the best. I took a HUGE bag of stuff and barely touched most of it. Now, I've got it down to one tote bag with all my tools (and seat cushion) in one bag.

The key to success on any dedicated sewing day is to have things organized. It doesn't mean that everything has to be super prepped, but if you don't have everything you need, it's a bit hard to make progress.

I've also become a VERY focused person, especially when it comes to sewing projects. A lot of reasons are behind that. I see my Mom with her hoarding tendencies, I see the HUGE stack(s) of UFOs and well - we can't let that apple fall close to the tree. Others yes, but not this one!

My goal for Monday sewing is to complete SIX blocks from the Farmer's Wife project. Here are the six blocks that I completed yesterday. There were a LOT of fiddly little pieces and it took forever. At least the blocks are cut for the remaining blocks so that is good. And I've found the project box so if I need something, I'm good with that as well.

Six blocks from Farmer's Wife

I believe there are 50 blocks left - I'm behind by two blocks as I ran into difficulty with a couple of them if you remember. And there are several that I need to create paper-pieced patterns for - I hope to catch up next week. Technically, I'll be done in 8 weeks. Even though I have many more of these block type projects, just sitting there, I really need to start sewing the tops of these together. That's hard to do on Monday as I like to put the blocks on my design wall, so I'm going to have to start scheduling some time at home to get that done! I'm not sure if I'll make one big quilt with the Farmer's Wife blocks, but I think I likely will. I'll see how it goes when I get all the blocks done.

But the fact that I'm working my way through these blocks? I'm super excited and all it took was a wee bit of discipline on my part.

I sewed a few enders/leaders as well yesterday and ran out of the cut squares from the red fabric. So I cut more when I got home. I can see by the height of the fabric stacks on the cutting table, that I'm going to have to cut a bit more. That's all the red I have left. May have to find another chunk. I'm hopeful. No need to cut the exact amount - that involves wasting time counting!

Enders/leaders prepped for next week

 After those blocks were complete, I pulled out the next project. The maple leaf wall hanging. There are nine blocks in total and I got them sewn together as far as I could go. Now I need to applique the stem on that bottom square. All the supplies are in the Monday box so I'll be tackling that next week. The borders are also cut and in the project box. I will have to find a backing soon, but I doubt I'll get to that stage for next week.

Maple leaf blocks almost together

I know - you're thinking - why didn't I have that already prepped so I could continue working yesterday? Sometimes, it's hard to have a project 100% prepped so I get the prep work done in stages. No big deal. If it takes several weeks to finish a project, that's OK. The key is to make progress on the projects that are in the bag.

Then it was onto the next project. This one is on my 2018 UFO list. It's a scrap quilt - actually, when I counted the blocks last week, there are enough for THREE quilts. I got three rows sewn together yesterday. Yeah!!!!

Three rows of the second scrap quilt - together

I had to cut more sashing so I dug through the stash last night and found suitable fabrics for the sashings. Some of the sashing pieces are cut and there are strips in the project box so if I need more, it's easy to get my hands on it.

Project box is prepped for next week

I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the border of these quilts. The pattern calls for the same color as the background which would be beige/cream. I think that's too much beige/cream. I may get creative and use a scrappy piano key border. That would be great - just have to dig through the stash to find more of that style of fabric. I'm sure there's more there. A lot more!!!  I don't think a scrappy quilt would look good with a single fabric in the border. Oh well - more work!!!!

I'm emptying plastic bags like crazy with all these projects.

Empty plastic bags

At least all the plastic bags have a home at my house. Two shelves worth in this cabinet. That's CRAZY!!!!!

Plastic Bag storage

Now that I've made progress on those wedding ring quilts - I'll share that whole story with you tomorrow, I don't feel so bad working on another quilt to be given away. I got this dog quilt almost cut this morning.

Dog quilt - almost cut and ready to sew

I love Quilt History books. And while I was zipping through the shelves at the Used Book Stores, I found this one. A good find. I know - I do NOT need any more quilt books. I've run out of room for them and I keep buying them. That is BAD. My one vice!

Quilt History book

 And bad me - I bought this book a couple of months ago, but it's only now got put with the rest of the books. It's an interesting book and lots of great quilts from Iceland.

A new book

Well, it's Tuesday and that means, I'm back to my routine. Paperwork this morning and quilting/sewing this afternoon. There's a ton to get done in both sectors, but that's OK. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine if that's possible. And I've been ignoring e-mail for the last week so that's going to take some time to go through.

Hope your Monday was as productive as mine was. And I hope that you're finding some way to get dedicated sewing time. So many people say they don't have time as they do everything for their family or their household. I know I'm very lucky in what I do and don't do, but I'm also very selective. My floors are a mess after the girls have been messing around. Do I care? NO. There are stacks of paper that need to be sorted. I'm slowly working my way through it rather than plunging ahead. Does that bother me? NO.  I'm a very selfish person - I take care of myself FIRST, then everyone else. Does that bother me? NO!

Anyway, hopefully, you work out a schedule that works for you!!  Don't let others encroach on your time because the more you give, the more they take!!!!

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Sewing Retreat - Day Five

It's great to be back home and to be able to PROPERLY cook my oatmeal. No bananas in the house so I had to use a nectarine. Not quite the same thing! The girls were happy to see me - of course - they went crazy. But then they are just crazy all the time.

In all the retreats that I've been to (and there have been a lot - this was number 12 at this retreat house and prior to that, I organized 23 or something like that at the one in Bracebridge and we've had one at Midland). That's a LOT of sewing retreats.

Anyway - yesterday was the first time I think that NO ONE was in a rush to leave on the last day. It was very nice as most of us stayed for lunch and it was a great leisurely morning. I went for another bike ride - a short one at 27KM. Thank god for the bike rides or I would have been dead with all the food. So next time, I'm going to REFUSE to eat all that sugary stuff that comes in. I didn't enjoy it like I used to and I certainly do not need it!!!

I made great progress on those Double Wedding Ring quilts and I'll provide more updates and pictures later.

Since this retreat was in July, I knew the traffic might be bad on the way home with everyone coming home from the cottage. At one point, I turned off the main highway, onto a secondary highway. Then I thought - I might just be able to catch another bookstore that had been recommended to me (in Orangeville). A quick check on the phone (pulled over of course) told me that the store closed at 4 PM. Yikes - OK - I'm not far so I plugged the address into the GPS and I was off. I had FIFTEEN minutes in the store. So not enough time to really give a review. The stacks of books were daunting and I enlisted the help of the person working in the shop. They were extremely accommodating and went up and down the aisle looking for the titles/authors as I called them off. I managed to find one book for Ronda and one for me and a craft book. The deal was "buy two, get one free". It would be worth it to go back to check it out with a bit more time.

After I got home and reviewed my "next to read list", I've decided that I DO NOT need to go hunting for any more books for a long time. I was going to check out another bookstore, but seriously - I do NOT need to do that. Now I need to update my list and reprint it and I'll be good for months.

If you remember before I left, the cutting table was a wee bit of a disaster as I piled up various things that needed to be addressed (sorted and put away).

Cutting table to be cleaned up!

I tackled it this morning and it's looking much better. I'll share some of that with you over this coming week.

Here's one box that I brought home from the retreat. What's in the box???  BTW - don't worry - you have NOT missed what's in the crate. I was told that I need to have a Facebook LIVE event to unveil what's in the crate. I hope to get it unpacked this week.

So in this box is something that I had seen when I was at Quilt Market in November. It was super cute and I had shown Ronda a picture. She wanted one as well. After much research, she found it at a good price in the US and we finally were able to purchase it - it took a while to be produced.
When we were filling out the order, it was going to cost $45 US to ship to Canada. NO WAY - we didn't want to pay that. A friend of hers was going to the US to visit friends so we had the package shipped to their house FOR FREE. And then the friend carried the boxes home for us. They drove which was a good thing as the box is fairly heavy.

Ronda's item is already removed, but they were identical.

Nice packaging

 Those are wee skinny strips of fabric that they used as filler.  And then there were a number of larger fabric strips as well. OH - the skinny strips are being donated to Diane who will put them in a pet mat. But don't they look festive???

The larger strips are in my string piecing box.

Larger strips for string piecing

And here it is - A Christmas kit. It's so cute.

Santa kit

 Here's the picture on the back. It's essentially a log cabin quilt with a Santa appliqued on one corner. Very cute. And different.

Santa kit

The collection is called Swell Christmas by Urban Chicks (Moda).  I think you might have to search really hard to find one - the kits went FAST.

Oh - they threw in a couple of small freebies as well. I'll take a picture of those and show you. Cute little items. Not necessary, but a nice little touch.

Someone mentioned to me that I should consider designing fabric. As a matter of fact, I've already done that! Years ago when I was at Sheridan College, we had to design fabric all the time. This is one of the pieces that I designed and hand screen printed myself. It's a bit wild on the eyes.

Fabric designed by ME

 Here's a close-up - pretty wild!!!!

Close up of MY fabric

I'm very much a graphic type of designer. I love the print but you can see that it was a challenge to get lined up properly. However, it will make an excellent backing for my pixelated apple quilt. I was going to buy something special for that quilt, but this will do and it uses up some fabric from the stash. Perfect!!!!  I still haven't decided what to use for binding on that quilt - black, green or red??? Or I might just use black and white to blend in with the background. I'll get it quilted first and then decide.

And as usual, it's going to be a very busy week. While I was away, I received a few more assignments to work on and some are a VERY high priority so when I'm home tonight I must get working on that. It's Monday sewing today and I'm looking forward to that.

On the way home, I chatted with my Mom for a while and she asked about those two darn wall hangings that she wants. Now, where is the pattern???  I have a feeling that I put it on my desk so I'll be rooting through all that paper today as well trying to find those pattern. Why or why did I put it in a safe place????

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!

Sewing retreat - Day Four

Sadly, it’s the last morning. It’s amazing how quickly 5 days pass by. We’ve had a blast - we ate way too much. For the most part, we did pretty good on the eating part. There were a few snacks, but not much, but then a couple of people hit Mariposa Bakery and all of a sudden, there are goodies everywhere. I’m so not used to eating bread and sugary stuff. My system is going haywire. I’ve been pretty good except for that huge eclair that I ate the other night.

Can’t wait to get home and back to normal eating. Thank goodness for those daily bike rides which have helped to keep the calories in check. I was out yesterday morning once again for another 36 KM. It’s so amazing to be out. The traffic on the roads is so little - I could move here in a heartbeat just on that fact alone (plus the used bookstore and the quilt store!)

I’m plugging away on that double wedding ring. I’ve decided that I’m going to keep working on that while I’m here. I’m in the groove - my seams are getting not bad at all those teeny wee intersections. The first quilt top is DONE!!!!  There are 30 circles in that quilt (5 columns of 6 clamshells) and it’s a nice lap sized quilt.

All of the remaining clamshells are DONE!!!!  And I’ve got the first column on the second quilt DONE. There are 6 blocks in a column. Technically it should be a breeze to make the remaining 4 columns and then sew them together.  It’s just fiddly, but the ladies have been very entertaining and I’ve just kept sewing. Normally, I’m not that focused, but I’m focused here.

I have a new goal for the next retreat. Remember how we chatted about Tish bringing only a laundry basket including all her tools? For the next retreat, I’m going to better that. I’m going to bring a small tote with one intensive project and my tools. Oh yes - we’re going to pack light next time, but make good progress on an intensive project. What is an intensive project? I have several paper pieced projects that are started and a good 5 days of work on them would advance them quite nicely. I’ll see what I have when I get back home.

And no this double wedding ring was NOT on my list of UFOs for this year, but it has been on the list for previous years. It’ll be nice to get it off my plate.

Went back to the bookstore yesterday and picked up a few more books for some of the others here. Once I understand their filing system (I have to ask because it’s good, but I’m not that good at categorizing the books into genres), I found a couple more books for me.

I sat outside and read for a bit yesterday and it was glorious. The weather is so nice, the temperature is very comfortable and it was great to just sit and have a good read.

I was exhausted by 6 last night. I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. I’ve been up later than normal while here. After dinner, I fell asleep on the couch and then moved to bed by about 8 PM. Had a great sleep and ready for a new day.

In case you’re wondering about the oatmeal? Two minutes at Power 3 - damn stuff still boiled over. GRRRR

Lots of great projects are being worked on and I’m taking pictures so I can post when I get home.

On that note, I’m off to sew one more row and then hit the road for one last bike ride.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Day Three - Sewing Retreat - Part TWO

You should be reading this ONLY if you’ve read Part ONE. I had to split the post again today.

So the scoop on the oatmeal???  Power three alone did not change the boil over situation. It looks like we would be good at TWO minutes (not THREE) and power level 3. Tomorrow (the last day) will be the test. Good grief. I’m amazed at how different these microwaves are and imagine switching between several of them. I wonder why they are so different??  I know it’s power levels, but should that be allowed???

I have to tell you the story of The Book Review here in Orillia. It’s a used bookstore that has been here for many, many years. Once I knew of its existence, I’ve visited it every time. Mostly to browse the craft books. I would pass all those stacks of super organized novels, but not knowing what I needed, I couldn’t justify buying any of them. Now that I have my lists, it’s a snap to know what I’m missing. Ronda was looking for a book and Lynn was looking for a particular author, so Lynn and I went back. I know - I’d go to a bookstore for anyone. Anyone want any books???  I’m ready to go back, but I don’t need anything now.

A very friendly lady greeted us and asked if we needed help. Since we had no idea about the author of one of the books, we asked and we were walked over to the section where the book was located. Then we got into a chat with Carol. Oh my - we got a LOT of information from her on cataloguing books, how they organize them on their shelves, some interesting websites. Seriously - this shop is the BEST. If you have books that you’re looking for, they will keep track of those for you and notify you if one of them comes in. Everything is documented and is super organized. After chatting with Carol for as long as we dared - the shop was busy with the phone ringing and people shopping, I feel like I made a new friend. As I mentioned, yesterday, I found eight books that I was looking for. Once I get myself organized, I’ll provide her with a couple of books that I’m looking for. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED in you are in the area. I’ll provide links next week when I’m home.

Now here’s the thing. I could have bought all those books on-line. But look what I would have missed. I met a very amazing lady, I got to learn a whole bunch of stuff about books and making book lists, I got to support a local business so that kind of PERSONAL assistance will be available. And there’s the thrill of the hunt as I scanned those book shelves. Imagine the excitement of searching for the author and then narrowing it down to a particular title and having a little happy dance, versus - clicking a mouse button (oh contain my excitement!).

I was so excited after meeting Carol, that I bought another book (one that was next on my list that I knew I could get at the library, but I bought it because she offered us so much, I wanted to return the favour and spent more money in her shop!)

It’s the same thing with the local quilt shop here. Thimbles and Things. Sure - we could probably buy most of what’s in that shop online. But where the heck is the fun in that???  I like Sue (the owner) - she always has the best stock and always has new products, she’s super friendly (I wonder how she does that!) and always has great advice. I just love her and we spent a LOT of time (and money) in that shop over the last couple of days. I think there were MANY trips made yesterday.

We need to get OUT of this online shopping mode. Guess who you are supporting if you buy online. In most cases, its NOT a Canadian company. We need to get off our collective butts and get out there and support these small shops. Yes - you may pay a wee bit more, but if you only buy what you need, then it doesn’t become expensive at all. If you buy, just for the sake of buying?  Well then you have a problem.  Why not get out and take a drive and actually buy the PHYSICAL thing - that would save you a whole lot because it would take more time than clicking!!!!!  I have a day trip in mind to visit one more bookshop (now that I have my list) and I can’t wait to go.

And now I’m off to get ready for another bike ride. It’s gorgeous out here again - slightly cool, but perfect for a ride.

Have a good day!!!

Ciao!!!