Odds and sods!!!!!!!!!!

Just a few odds and ends that I want to mention so here they are!!!!!!!!!!!!


The participants on this upcoming crazy adventure of mine are hooked up on line and so we can ask each other questions. The subject of saddles has come up. Now I SWEAR by my BROOKS saddles. I won't ride my bike with anything else (distance that is - short rides, it isn't an issue). One of the ladies was asking about different models. HMMMMM - I have NO IDEA what model I bought or what is the difference between the two that she mentioned. A quick peek at a site that sells BROOKS saddles and I am DROOLING.......................


Take a look and scroll down - you will see what I mean.  (sorry - can't copy their pictures - they are copyrighted)


Brooks saddles


How cool are they!!!!!!!!!!!  Well - no need to change.

Why are these saddles so good????   Have a look...............

This is the seat on my touring bike (the one I travel with). See those indentations on the seat. Those  were molded there by my butt. That makes that seat MINE!!!!!   And you can get more comfortable than when something is molded to you. 

This is the seat on my road bike which isn't as broken in as the other one. 

Sorry - but I started this post yesterday. Then I spent MOST of the day trying to find a picture that I was CERTAIN I took. It was of a bicycle we saw in Amsterdam with a Brooks saddle on it except there was very little leather left on the wire frame of the seat. Well  - I searched and searched and have come to the conclusion that I did NOT take that picture. I am sure I did, but my memory cards tell me otherwise.

Speaking of memory cards - oh dear. As you would guess, when my memory card is full on the camera, instead of downloading the pictures (like normal people would), NOPE - I just buy a new one!!!!   Which makes me laugh because Mary was on vacation recently with her daughter. She ran out of room on her camera and her mean old daughter made her delete pictures. She wouldn't let her buy a new card. Thank goodness M would NEVER do that. She would help me find a camera store where I could buy a new card.

And how many cards would I have?????   Well.....................

These are the cards I have for the big camera. And yes if you count up the GB (don't forget the 32 GB that is in the camera) and well you have 80 GB of room. I know - who knew - 80 GB is a LOT of space!!!!!!!!!!!!!   This used to be worth a LOT of money, but those cards are so cheap these days - it doesn't make sense to NOT have a few extra on hand. 

And here are the cards for the small camera. - including the one in the camera - I think we are talking 32.5 GB. OK - so I won't need to buy any for a while!!!!!!!!

There is a problem with keeping the pictures on the cards - they take longer to access through the computer and that is probably why I have so much problem with the memory. So I decided to download my camera cards - it took all day yesterday and I am still downloading this morning, but almost done.


The other problem is that when the pictures are on the cards, they have no tags so it makes it hard to find them. And then when you download them, you have to tag them for the card, not each picture. Once they are downloaded onto my EXTERNAL hard disk that was purchased just for pictures,  FIRST - I must go through them and DELETE DELETE DELETE. I don't know how many pictures there are yet - I think I will be afraid to see that final number. Plus I have to move those that are my computer to the external hard disk - then all pictures will be in one spot. Yes - back to that LIKE things together. Then find some free minutes - set up a file structure, tag the pictures and start sorting. I am actually looking forward to that because there are LOTS of pictures that I would like to access more quickly.

I have to laugh - on the radio the other day, they said that people who frequently complain of being bored are 2.5 times more likely to die of heart attack or stroke. Those people need to take up a hobby - photography, blogging, reading, cycling or quilting are goods ones - they are all time consuming!!!!!

Have to wait to load the pictures this morning because I am downloading!!!!


Last week - we finished the dress class and while I am not done my dress - I made up good time in the last two classes - I'll show you another day. I think I have convinced myself to take another class. This one is on jacket making. I even have the pattern that they are going to use. I recently saw that pattern and do you think I could find it a couple of weeks ago. NOPE - I checked the basket that it came from (with clothing fabrics in it) - not there. So I checked the next logical place - the pattern box for clothing. NOPE - not there either. Now this made me wonder about my filing system. I seem to be very organized and YET - why can't I find that pattern. Yesterday, while waiting for the pictures to download, I went back to the pattern box. OH BOY - there is the pattern. I guess I might need new glasses or something!!!!  The darn pattern was there all along. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!    Anyway - then I dug through the basket with clothing fabric and found the fabric I was going to use for the jacket and well - it is in the dryer as we speak. OH YES - I think I will do the class. Why not - it will get rid of more fabric.

Here is the pattern

Yesterday was so nice, I was actually in the garden (yes - parts of it are dry enough to work in). BUT we are going to need some major work in there this summer. MAJOR mulching needs to happen and THIS needs to be repaired...............

Hard to see in this picture, but that ledge on the pond is collapsing and our fence needs an overhaul. Oh dear - that is going to be fun to fix. 

Our house seems to have a revolving door for dogs!!!!!   The big black dog and the fuzzy dog have had lots of company.

Kaylee was here last week and she how she and M shared the sunshine on the carpet in the living room!!!!!   The fuzzy dog - would have NOTHING to do with them. 

This week it is cute little Chloe. She fits right in and well - I'll tell you her story tomorrow. 

I did get some sewing done yesterday as well, but no pictures yet. I did manage to get as much of Stonehenge together as I could.

Waiting for the last two blocks. 

This brings up another issue - I have a couple of things missing.................

The last log cabin block for the Stonehenge Meets Jamestown quilt - I made it - I know I did and where is it????

Oh shoot - there are a couple of other things missing, but I can't even think of what they are now!!!!   How funny is that. At least I did find that pattern. Oh yes - a while back, I couldn't find the latest book by Bonnie Hunter. I KNOW I bought that book, but couldn't find it. So I bought it again. And then at some point, I realized it was sitting on the work table mere inches from the bag that held the other copy. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - any one want to buy a copy of String Fling by Bonnie Hunter??????




And on that note - I had better find the pictures that go with this blog and get on with the day.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Computers!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love computers and everything technical, but when things change - well I don't adapt easily to change!

I have the original iPad. Which I use to do many things including playing bridge (practicing bridge) and playing Scrabble. I play Scrabble a lot and have MANY games going  with my online friends. Well some YAHOO at EAGAMES decided that they would do an upgrade to Scrabble. Why do people insist on fixing things that do NOT need fixing. Now I can't play Scrabble on my iPad. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

I haven't played in a while - I'm protesting. Well I am up to date - I played on the computer this morning and I HATE HATE HATE the new interface. So do a lot of other people, but I doubt they will change it. I tried to find a way to get around this issue, but I can't seem to find anyone else with the problem. Well - maybe I need to update the IOS on my iPad. Going to try that this morning and hence - no pictures for you today.

On the other hand, my Dad - who is almost 80 bought himself a BRAND NEW COMPUTER this week including a 22 inch monitor. And he didn't even need a new one. All the others he has had have been made or hand me downs. There were a few small things going wrong with the old one and so he up and bought a new one. And how did I know that???  I was in Chapters when I looked at my phone and saw that I had received an e-mail on my "secret" email account. HOLY COW - It's from my Dad. How did that happen???  Seems when I was there last summer, I set him up with an account and put my other email address in there. And he sent me a message - it was pretty funny!!!!!


And the support for Scrabble SUCKS.

On that note - I am VERY FAR behind with  my quilting and need to get my butt in gear.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's all in the cards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes - there are THREE posts today. And I still have lots more to post, but I had better get to work or I will have to fire myself!!!   WAIT - it is that easy?  OK - YOU ARE FIRED!!!!!!   No WAIT - then who will quilt these quilts? OK - you can have a bit more time to blog and then get to work!!!!!!!!!!


Last week, I wanted to send a couple of cards to a couple of people. I buy cards, but then I never send them. I am VERY VERY bad. I LOVE cards. I LOVE getting cards and I LOVE sending them. I just don't send them often enough.

Now here is one of the best things about having LIKE things together. All my cards were in the same spot. So finding an appropriate card wasn't going to be a problem. And once ALL LIKE things are in the same spot - it is easy to organize and easy to see if you need more of something. So while the cards were all together, they were NOT organized. I took the time to get them organized.

Sorting through the cards

My THREE boxes of cards - one is strictly Christmas (and there was Christmas in all three boxes), one box is all QUILT THEMED cards and the third is everything else

And then there are these boxes of cards with bicycles on them which will NOT fit in the boxes. Yes - I LOVE these!!!!!   

Now I came across an issue. I had some cards that were inexpensive cards that you get from those fundraisers. Well - BIG problem.............

The sticky part of the envelope got stuck to the front of the card. So now the envelope and the card are useless. Well NOT completely

I emptied this box that had blank cards in it

And put the damaged cards in there. I put these with my MIXED MEDIA stuff and I want to go through there and rip off parts that I can use in MIXED MEDIA stuff. I am trying to make it easy to do the MIXED MEDIA and if I get stuff like this ready to go - then it will be easy to start?????   One can only hope!!!!

A bunch of GOOD cards that I put in the give away box. I mean - I bought them and never used - what is the point of keeping them. I did keep the sympathy cards since that seems to a popular card these days.  

More stuff I found - blank envelopes which I will send to my mom as she makes tons of cards and can always use envelopes. And two mats which went in the mixed media box. 

Oh yes - I was good at buying cards for a particular situation and then years later - here it still sits.

So in this case - I chose TWO cards. And both of them are gone to the person they were chosen for. 

With the cards, I also found this notebook that I recently purchased. It is now with the notebooks, although I  need to start using one of my cycle notebooks instead of the one I currently use. ACK - but I want to finish the current book FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then M was downtown on Saturday and look what she found for me. More cards and another notebook!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD - I also found this picture. This is hilarious. When I lived in Montreal MANY years ago, I "ran" and I use that term loosely. I never was a runner. Anyway - I signed up for a couple of short runs -  This one was 10K. The final 1/4  km was run around the Olympic Stadium track. I must admit running into that stadium was pretty exciting. People were in the stands, but they were there for a baseball game that was going to start in a bit. This was taken in the 80's but I would have to go and dig out the year which doesn't really matter. This is me arriving at the FINISH LINE - I remember the time - well approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes or something like that. 

Well there you have it - THREE posts today with more on the way. Hopefully.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



PS - go find something that you can organize today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   It feels great to get something done!!!!!

Don`t try this at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A normal quilt consists of a top, batting and backing. And in normal circumstances - the top and backing are cotton. However I have experimented with Plush or Minkee and it has worked just fine. So when a customer asked me to use a velour blanket on the back????   - Well - why not. It wasn't stretchy like the plush so that was easy. I just pinned the blanket on like a regular backing and quilted it.

Here is the quilt

 Oh -and I thought you would be interested to see what colour thread I put on it. I mean, I see people trying to match the thread colour exactly and well - I just grab something that is close and no problems...........

Here is the thread colour for this quilt - doesn't match the blue and doesn't match the beige. That means it will show EQUALLY on BOTH fabrics.  Very important with an overall design. 

Detail of the pattern

Close up of the light - do you see the thread?????

Close up of the dark - do you see the thread??????

 You can't beat a neutral thread. I have a LOT of neutrals and I use them a LOT on coloured quilts. They blend right in.

Here is the back after it was quilted

Close up of the back

 My only comment about using the blanket - while it worked OK on the long arm, I am not sure that I would use it on a domestic machine. It is heavy and very SOFT so I think it would create a LOT of drag as you attempted to quilt it. But why not try a small quilt. Because this quilt also has batting in it - it is going to be ONE WARM quilt.

And here is another customer quilt that I got done last week

detail of the quilting - which is hard to tell

This is the quilting from the back - see the fish?????

Anyway - I think I have reached the limit of quilts that I can take in until after I am back. So - if you have a quilt you want quilted - well call me and we can talk. I have a smidgen of flexibility, but not much!!!!!   And as we get closer to that date, that flexibility gets less.


So I have another quilt to do today. It is custom but small so not sure I will be able to get it completed today, but sure would be nice if I could.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Treasures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my - when you wear your favourite things on your sleeve - you never know what you are going to come across.

If you haven`t guessed by now - I like the colour orange, ANYTHING with bikes on it, and sundry other cute things.

From time to time, people help with my acquisition of things that are bike related or orange. Have a look..........


OH - FIRST - I have an item that I need and I will PAY FOR IT and perhaps throw in a finders fee. Last year, Ronda gave me this glass. Well - we seem to be getting lots of cups and the cupboard was getting full. When I opened the door to get a cup, this poor glass came crashing out and the LID chipped on the side and broke the seal between the two parts. BOOHOO!!!!!!!  

So if ANYONE sees a glass like this - PLEASE get it for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Broken bike glass. Now I can still use it for a pencil holder or something like that. But no longer as a glass 

Lisa saw my little orange dress that Tish gave me and said she had a hanger that I could have for the dress. I know - it's an epidemic!!!!!

I saw the size of the hanger and thought it would be PERFECT. 

Here is the dress WITHOUT the hanger  (it has a little wool hanger on the back) 

And LOOK at how cool it looks with the hanger!!!!!!!!!!!    PERFECT!!!!!   Thanks to Tish and Lisa for this cool little dress. Just shows you how important presentation is. 

Then at Dear Jane class, Bernice comes up to me with a smile on her face. She tells me a story about a woman that is cleaning out her mother's house. The mother was a crafter. And when Bernice was going through some stuff that was given to her - she opened this box and guess who she thought of?????

OH MY GOD - isn't this just the best. 

 Well - actually it gets better..............

Because there are TWO boxes of the floss. I know exactly what I am going to do with it. Just a question of getting the time!!!!!

Then Ronda was at my Sit n Sew on the weekend and she had purchased a bundle of fabric somewhere. And look at the ribbon that was on the bundle - those are the LETTER E in orange. I mean - it was meant for me!!!!!!!!!!   

I am in a post card exchange (which I need to get done!!!!). Last night at guild, Mary gets up for show n tell and has something tucked in her jacket. She starts talking about the post cards and then pulls this out!!!!!   I LOVE IT!!!!!!    How fun!!!

Now I do buy treasures for myself and when I saw this fabric at Ruti's - well I HAD TO HAVE IT. OK - so I bought a few meters of it. I mean who else will want it??????

And ANOTHER Mary bought me this cute scarf when she was in the US a while back. It has bikes all over it. 

And Barb (oh shoot - I think it was Barb) gave me these adorable paper clips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say that I am a VERY LUCKY person. And I want to thank EVERYONE for the little treasures. They are so appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Like Peter Walsh (the organizing guru says) - I keep all these little treasures handy or in plain view so I can enjoy them and they remind me of the people that have given them to me.

Anyway - I have a LOT more to post today so I had best get busy.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This OLD house.................

When M was 2 and moving into a queen bed, I decided that she needed a quilt for that bed. Where that thought came from I have no idea!!!!!  But I would like to know what triggered that thought.

Anyway - I took a class and the rest is history. So that was in the fall of 1998. Around 2000, I was so ADDICTED to  sewing and quilting, that I took a leave of absence from my EXCELLENT paying job with lots of perks to focus on sewing and also to go to Sheridan. I thought that taking a year off from a STRESSFUL job would be enough to get the bug out of my system. HA!!!!   What a foolish thought.

Here we are almost 14 years later and I am so excited about sewing and quilting that it is embarrassing!!!!!  There are times when I want to drop everything and just sew, but I can't!!!   But I TRY!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway - I know you are wondering what has gotten me excited this time???   I started teaching at the Hobby Horse in 2000 (I know - how did that happen????)  and in 2002, Gail and I had an idea. Again - where did these ideas come from?????   Well we decided to run a year long class. OK - so $10 quilts were all the rage at that time and we thought we should get on the band wagon, but we did ours differently. We choose a pattern and broke it up into pieces.

As is usual for me - I don't think I ever finished ONE of those quilts in the year that we worked on it. OK - so I don't think I have ever finished ANY of them. Ooops - I did complete one. Wish Upon a Star - 2006

Now that I am NOT working on all those exchange blocks, I have time to work on something for me. This year, in December, I am going to host a reunion of ALL those $10 quilts that we did over the years. And there are TWENTY-THREE of them. Yes 23 of them as we started doing TWO a year a while back and one year we did FOUR. OK - so call me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a goal and I am working on those quilts and that is why I am EXCITED!!!!!!


To help keep me on track, I tracked down all the projects and put them on my small rolling cart. I had room to add the ones that I have taught or am teaching at other stores as well.

Here is the cart with all the ongoing projects on it. It is exciting to see all the projects in ONE place and I know this will get emptier as the year goes on. I can't wait to see it at the end of the year. 

OK - so of the 23, one is done and actually quilted and has the binding on.


This is what I have done lately......................

Here is the pattern - we did this in 2010. Pieceful Nights by Lori Smith

I had worked on this last year and got the top together, but it still needed that last border. And now that last border is ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also got the binding and the backing (this is the wrong side of the backing here) - DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    And has been moved into the TO BE quilted bin. 

For some reason, I had a TERRIBLE time joining the binding and borders pieces. My machine did NOT like sewing through two layers of that dark green batik. It skipped stitches like no tomorrow. But if I sewed the batik to another batik, it was fine. Had a brand new needle in there and tried different kinds of thread. Let's just say that I am GLAD it is done.


Of course - that got me excited and then I had to dig out the next one.

This is Around the Block by The Rabbit Factory. We did this quilt in 2008. 

Hmmmmm - let's see what I have done. Well the center of the quilt is done and when I got digging in the box, I had a good many of the house blocks made.

BUT - for the longest time, this block was cut and laid out, ready to sew, but has been moved from basement to closet upstairs and back down again and still in this same state!!!!    What the heck is it supposed to be?????

And in the pattern, I found complete blocks CUT OUT and READY TO SEW

Pieced sections ready to cut for the trees!!!!!!!!!!!

HEY - I don't think it will take too long to get this one done.

I started by rearranging the pieces on that crazy block that has sat forever and LOOK............

Look at hose dusty the pieces are!!!!!!

Well - in all that shuffle, I had lost only one piece and I saw it recently, and I remember tucking it somewhere, but where? - well who knows. So I dug though the red baskets - nothing. Dug through the red scraps and found a close match. Rejiggled the pieces and can you tell from the picture above which one doesn't belong????   Of course you cannot!!!!

 Then I got sewing and OH DARN - this is probably why I stopped sewing. One of the pieces (the pattern was WRONG) was too short.

Quickly looked through the light scrap box - NOPE - all gone. Well, I just found a similar piece and whacked it on. 

And VOILA - this old house is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got the next house block laid out and ready to sew

And here is what my quilt looks like at this point. 

Top and bottom borders are almost complete - just missing TWO trees for each and then most of the blocks in the side borders, but after I sew what is cut - I may not have much left to do.


If you want to see the complete list (well even pictures) of all the quilts - then have a look at this link............


$10 quilts at Hobby Horse

What I have completed so far on Snow Days - one of the current  $10 quilts. Got to remake TWO of those churn dash blocks and I have to get busy stitching. I did some more last night, but I've been lax this past month and I'm behind. Can't have another UFO from these projects.

I have LOADS to post, but it has been a crazy weekend. Had sit n sew on Friday and a nice tidy sewing room. Then they leave and an EXPLOSION happens.............

A HUGE mess - actually doesn't look too bad and it is all (or mostly) tidied up again as I have another sit n sew today, but only three people. I think I might sneak in some house building and tree planting!!!!!!!!

Have a great day and if you have done a $10 quilt in the past - GET IT DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



CIAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!