It's MONDAY!!!

Time is flying faster than a speeding bullet these days!  But great progress is being made.  How do I become so productive?  A simple thing called a deadline!

I had to teach a class yesterday. Before leaving, I managed to get the top sewn together minus the last border.  When I got home, I put the last border on and pieced the back. Threw it on the long arm, got it quilted and trimmed.

I went to sew the binding on this morning and for some reason, this machine I'm using is not so keen on the invisible thread and I didn't have time to rejig my other sewing machine. 

So - it's done - pretty much.  It will be ready to go in the crate for this week. 

Cutting is progressing rather nicely and tomorrow is going to be an intense day of pressing, cutting, and sewing. 

I'll have pictures for you tomorrow.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!

Smile please!

As I got up this morning - yes 5:15 AM on a Sunday, I thought to myself. Have I ever gotten up at 5 AM and NOT gone immediately into the studio?  Well after putting the dogs out, but you know what I mean. I'm serious - what do people do when they get up?  I've done the same thing for years whether I was going to work or not.  I can get a lot done in one hour before it's time to get ready for work!

At this time, I'll take even five minutes in the studio.  There's a lot going on, a lot that needs to be done, but most importantly, a LOT got done yesterday and that's all that counts at this point!

So what does the cutting table look like at the moment?  Well, there's still a lot of stuff on there, but doesn't really amount to a whole lot of cutting.  I can't tell you what I cut - oh well why not.  I cut an entire quilt yesterday - 80 inches square.  It's my own design so I didn't cut it out until I had tested one block to make sure that everything fit properly. I changed one fabric that I wasn't sure I was going to like.  I made the block - didn't like it and switched.  I must have been certain that that would happen because I had brought a substitute fabric! Because of the way that I sewed it together (two partial seams), I had to make a tiny adjustment on a few pieces and I was good to go!

The cutting mat

 Perused the directions (also mine) for the next quilt and got part of that one cut out.  It's mostly cut out - won't take long to finish.  I cut sashings, I cut bindings, I cut borders.  I'm almost done all the cutting.  I could have finished yesterday but I had a couple of other commitments.  Like a meeting with the West End Modern Quilt Guild.  This is such an AMAZING group of women and I'll share what happened at the meeting later this week.  It was so cool.

I'll have to tidy up that space this morning because I need to put borders on a quilt.  That won't take long as there really isn't much on the table.

Then I had a date with the forest. You see we make quilts at work!  Oh should I say, we make quilts for work. And we need to get photos of those quilts.  I was deligated to get the photos.  The quilts are from the Northcott Stonehenge Maplewood collection which if you haven't seen is absolutely stunning and I want a LOT of all of it when it arrives in shops. It comes in two colorways - Scarlet and Woodlands.  Scarlet is my favorite by far!!

I thought taking the quilts amongst the colorful leaves would be very appropriate!

This is me yesterday - a wagon full of quilts and a camera and NOTHING ELSE!  I didn't want some contrived setting in the forest so I was going to take what I could find!

Wagon full of quilts for photograpphy

And I found a couple of cool spots to take photos of the smaller items, but nothing that suited the larger quilts.  Then I found this spot.  It was perfect!!!   I had to use a stick for a pole to hold the quilts and was able to jerry rig it onto that bent tree and I was good to go!!   That's the back of one of the quilts by the way - not the front!  Next time I need to take a small stool for me to stand on and perhaps some rope????

Photo shoot

I'm long past the point of being embarrassed doing weird stuff like photographing quilts on a main street.  Nope - I don't care any more!  Likely no one saw me, although there was a fair amount of foot traffic in the forest.  By the way - has ANYONE seen those wagons for sale recently???   I NEED one desperately or if you want to loan me yours, that would be awesome!!!  I need TWO for a couple of weeks.

I'm pretty sure that some of my other quilt photos were used in an ad.  I'll try to find that - it's possible they haven't been published yet.  These long delays between publication is crazy, but it's nowhere what it used to be!

What else?  Oh yes, I didn't just cut fabric and take pictures yesterday.  No way!  I got most of the blocks (12) sewn for a quilt that needs to be done (hopefully by tomorrow morning).  All the blocks are completely assembled now and the sashing is cut.  A couple of borders this morning and hopefully loaded on the long arm this evening.

I even got to watch a movie last night! Whenever I have some hand sewing or a lot of marking, I get it prepped and then we sit down and watch a movie while I work!  One of the quilts - the big one has a lot of diagonal seams.  I'm a marker so half of them are marked as are all the pieces for the other quilt that I cut.  Things are good!

It's going to be another crazy day and I have to teach a class. Note to self - NEXT YEAR - book NOTHING extra in the month of October!!!  Just in case there is a silly project (s) to get done for Market!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

A secret......

There is NO way that I'm going to tell you what needs to be done before the crate leaves next week. And NO way that I'm going to tell you what else needs to be done before I leave.  You all think I'm a loonie tune now - and if you didn't, those numbers would tip the scales for sure.  Nope - I'm keeping all that a huge secret.  Even from myself because if I really understood the sheer amount of work that still needs to be done, I might shut down and there is zero time for that!

So as I work, I'm prioritizing - what can get done in this amount of time. What shortcuts can be taken - amazing how quickly your brain can come up with shortcuts for cutting when there's a deadline. My brain is working overtime but I think I've got all the cutting figured out. Now it's just a question of getting it all cut out and moving onto the sewing part.  So far so good. On track?  Well I would like to have all the cutting done by the end of today but I'm not sure that is going to happen. There's a lot!  But it could be done!  And that would be a relief.  I'm thinking how can I take a portable sewing setup to Houston on the crate. A sewing machine? An ironing board? It can be done!  I'll keep you in the loop as each problem gets solved!

The scrap basket

Don't think I've ever had to empty that scrap basket so often! And it's all going in the garbage and I'm perfectly OK with that!

And it looks like I'm going to be staying home for a couple of days this coming week to get all this stuff sewn. There are so many distractions at work - like my job! -  that's there's no time to sew.   

I rarely get to a quilt store these days unless it happens while I'm travelling.  I miss visiting and seeing what's new in person. I see much on the internet, but it's not nearly the same as seeing it in person!  I had to pick up a quilt from Sew Sister's and decided to brave the traffic yesterday to do so.  Why is traffic geting so stupid?  People are taking more and more chances all the time time and it's freaking me out!  People cutting in and out, cutting people off and speeding. It's totally insane!  Breathe in deep, count to three, hold for three, exhale, count to three. 

So while I was there (there being Sew Sisters - which is about 20 minutes from work), I had to have a peek around the store and look what I found!   Yes - bicycles!  How fun is that. Of course, I had to buy some.  I did pick up a few more things as well. I may or may not share those with you.  I must confess that the purchases that I make in the last couple of months are still sitting in bags on the floor!

Bicycle fabric

There appears to be zero time in getting stuff done!  However you're going to laugh when you see one of the projects that I'm working on!  It was one of those moments of insanity and I'm all for double dipping. If I have a personal project that I can use to help with work, then I'm all about getting it done! Wait for that one!
The problem with some of these is that they are going to get such a small amount of focus time, but takes hours to make that happen.  That's the problem in our industry!

Did you check out the new tab on my blog?  QUILTsocial Blog posts.  Yep, M has been hard at work behind the scenes and has compiled the first two years of posts that I've written for QUILTsocial. I'm super excited about that because it will help me to direct people if I want to show them something specific.  Like there was the video about that twirling of the binding. It's in there somewhere - I need to look at my master list to get the specific post.  But it will happen!  We need to compile the next two years worth of posts - there are fewer of them!  No time though until after Market.

Just so you don't think I'm going to have fun at Houston (Market), although yes, we wiill.  But we have two booths to set up, there are many scheduled meetings with various people over the course of the show and inbetween those meetings, I'll be out checking the floor, catching up with people and doing some research!  And let's not forget that almost every evening, something is scheduled.  And I don't get to go back to my hotel for a nap if I'm tired!  Oh yes - wear comfortable shoes!  But it's all fun if you go with the right mindset!

On that note, I'm out of here.  The girls are somewhat patiently waiting to go to the park, if you call teasing each other and Lexi howling patiently waiting!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

A cover girl - almost!

The days are starting to blur together.  Get up, cut fabric, sew fabric. Go to work - cut fabric. Go home. Cut fabric, sew fabric! 

I'm almost, but not quite done with all the cutting.  I think I have at least one more good solid day of cutting and then a LOT of pressing and a LOT of sewing and some quilting.  I find cutting is very relaxing and I could cut all day!  Which under the circumstances is a good thing. 

However last night when I was cutting, my mind wasn't there.  I cut this bigger piece so I could get TWO squares that measure 6 ½" square.  Well, as you can see below, the ruler shows the first 6 ½" square.  I don't think there is enough to the right to cut one more 6 ½" square.  DUH!!!

Oops - not big enough to cut TWO 6 ½" squares

However, that was the very first piece and I learned. The rest is cut and ready to sew.  I didn't cut the sashing yet. I'll leave that for tonight. Look at these jewel tone fabrics.  They are to DIE FOR!!!!   They're from Northcott's Essence collection. The fabrics are available now.  Check out the product finder on that link (top right-hand corner) to find a shop near you!  And if you want to make the quilt that I'm making, it's one of my free patterns.  Hit the FREE PATTERNS link on the right sidebar (one more NEW thing about the blog) and look for Jeweled Tiles!

Quilt blocks - cut and ready to sew

And then I got an envelope in the mail last night.  Part of me feels a bit guilty saying this, but what the heck. If we don't promote ourselves, who will?   So in the envelope was a magazine. Actually two magazines. And in the magazine was another one of MY quilts!  How super exciting is that!   I'm going to be posting them all soon with pictures of the quilts so you can see them. 

Now if you look really really closely at the top left hand of the cover, there is a part of my quilt!
My goal is to make the cover and more than just a wee circle at the top!  I want the full deal!  If we don't have goals, they will never happen!

McCall's Quick Quilts - December/January 2018

This is not likely on the newstands just yet, but wait for it!   And yes - there are more quilts coming.  I'm not sure how many, as I've totally lost count!   I'm about to get into a heavy design session - well as soon as Market is over.

I was all up to date on hand stitching quilt sleeves on and bindings all sewn on by machine when I received a quilt yesterday for display with NO sleeve on it!   Seriously people - how the heck do you expect me to hang a quilt without a sleeve? I shall be having a little chat with some designers after Market. The sleeve is made and I have a meeting this morning so I'll be hand stitching in the meeting. 

On that note, I've got more cutting and sewing to do today. Another super exciting day!

Have a super day!

Ciao!

Where is my secretary?

So?  What do you think??? 

Hopefully, you noticed the new background! This is one of my all-time favorite quilts that I made. I love the rich colors, I love that it's scrappy. I need to hang it back up.  At one time or another, I had quilts all over the house. Well, there are still quilts all over the house, but none are on the walls at the moment. I took some down for a trunk show and well, they just never got put back up because it seems that I needed them for something or other. But once Market is over, time to hang those quilts back up! 

I changed the quilts in my office today.  It's officially Halloween time so two Halloween quilts are up. And I have a beach one on the other wall so I can think about warm weather!

Has this ever happened to you?  I have a regular guild meeting tonight for one of my modern quilt guilds. I've been telling everyone that I won't be at the meeting because I'm scheduled to talk at a guild. OK.  Then I realized that my talk was on Wednesday, but to an entirely different guild. That appointment was also on my calendar. I booked back to back. Oh well. No worries.  Then when I did some checking this morning, I realized that the appointment for tonight was in fact in 2016!!!!!   I must have tentatively booked the date off when we were discussing me coming to chat and I put in the wrong year!!!   How's that for giving oneself a heart attack!!!   So that means I can go to my Modern Guild meeting tonight!!!  Yeah!!!   But seriously - I need to be a wee bit more organized when it comes to that. I was a bit curious why there was no topic chosen and why no one had contacted me to confirm!  DUH!!!! 

But I will be speaking on Monday again and I have all the information for that! 

I've been binge watching quilt shows!   No - not on TV, but on YouTube.  If you remember, I had provided you with a link to The Quilt Project that was produced by Patchwork Plus in Virginia.   If you haven't watched any of the shows, it's a fun watch.  The editing needs a wee bit of work, but overall, you get the idea.  And what a fun idea. I really want to host something like this, but where and when?

Have a look - I've listed all the episodes here.


Episode One

Episode Two

Episode Three

Episode Four


Episode Five

I think there is one more, but I haven't watched it yet.  If you binge watch these, the next one comes up right after.  Easy!

Actually, a couple of my cohorts and I have already had a lengthy discussion about this and we have plans!  Oh yes - we have plans!   Just have to get organized to make it happen.  Do I have any contestants???  It would be way better to do in person than online.  But it could happen online. Just not the same amount of fun!


Thanks to Shirley for alerting me to this show.  It's fun and I think they've done a great job. Yes - there are things that I would do differently in terms of technical stuff, but everything is a learning experience!

I want to say a big shout-out to the Grand Quilt Guild in Fergus.  That's where I was last night.  What an amazing group of quilters.  This group was excited.  Every speaker who got up to chat was very animated and I really felt this was a super cohesive guild. You could feel the electricity in the air!  Thanks for letting me entertain you!  It was so much fun!

Speaking of EQ8, if you currently own EQ7, you are eligible for the upgrade on October 23. If you want to buy it outright, then you have to wait until sometime in November.  Me?  I'm ordering on October 23.  Actually, I'm going to pre-order the software today and then get it on October 23. I'm NOT excited!!!   The best place I've seen so far is NextStepDesigns. Kat is the lady who so graciously brought us the 150 Canadian Women series of quilt blocks.  If you go to the link, scroll down until you see the space for ordering.  The cost is $100  which is a good price and there is also the Lesson Book for $35.   I'm getting both!   Thanks Kat for making this great offer for us.  And since I'm doing the upgrade, there is nothing to ship!  I get an access code or something and then I can download the software!!!   Is it October 23 yet?

On that note, I'm off to cut more fabric yet again today!  It just doesn't seem to stop and I have one more sleeve to sew on so I can finish watching the last of The Quilt Project.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Quilt shows!

As I was taking a break last night to finally eat something. I usually have a stomach of steel, but last night - well I wasn't hungry.  How did that happen?  Must have been too much of that darn pumpkin pie on the weekend!  I couldn't even contemplate the thought of eating that pie last night.  I wasn't sick, just wasn't hungry! 

So I'm reading through a local magazine and I came across this. If you live in Mississauga or surrounding area and you are a quilter - you might want to mark this on your calendar.

The show is called A Thread and A Story at the Bradley Museum which is located at 1620 Orr Road.  The show runs from September 9 - February 25, 2018.  Once this madness called Market ends, I plan to do something with my weekends that has NOTHING to do with a sewing machine!

I also came across another show in Oakville. This is called The Wearable Art Show on Friday, Oct 20 and 21. I doubt that I'll get to this one as it's the weekend before we leave for Market, but the other one I should be able to make.  But it's a collaboration between the students from the Textile Program at Sheridan and the Fashion Design program at Fanshawe.  That would be awesome to see.  I went to the Textile program at Sheridan and LOVED IT!!! 

And you may have seen this on Facebook, but this is the quilt that's in the magazine on the sidebar right now.  Love of Quilting  (Nov/Dec 2017).  This is the magazine's stylized shot of the quilt.  It's a beautiful quilt. The fabric collection is Tis The Season by Northcott.

Going to have to sell these quilts as I'm getting a huge stack and what do I do with them all???


On that note, I'm cutting again today and writing and e-mail and all that fun stuff!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Monday totally blew past me!

I had no idea that yesterday was Monday!  Duh!!!  Totally missed that on the blog post until I saw others posting in the Facebook group about their Monday goals.  Oopsy!!  Well, my goals and tasks are too many to write down - I know in my head and there's no way that I can forget any of them since they are sitting on that cutting table.  I can't say the cutting table looks any better, but it will!

Yesterday was consumed by cutting pieces for the tote bag project. The COLOSSAL tote bag project.  I made huge progress so I'm happy and now that I have the process in place and all the remaining pieces cut, it should go pretty quickly (I hope!)     I hope to have bags to share with you tomorrow!

So I thought I was in the know about Electric Quilt.  I've been using the latest version (EQ7) since it came out.  What do I see in my e-mail this morning?  A NEW release and the news didn't even come from EQ themselves. It came from Kat who is doing the 150 Canadian Women.  How did that happen?  I'm signed up for EQ e-mails. 

Anyway -- check it out.  If you have EQ7 - you should START using it.  It's the best software ever!  And if you don't have it - then you should buy EQ8.  How am I going to remember that - EQ8, not EQ7.   There are some books and other material.  I'm in line to get my release copy!!!!!

I wonder how different it will be to use????   I can't wait!!

And on that note, I'm out of here.  I've got sleeves to hand stitch on, I've got fabric that needs to be cut and then I've got all the rest of my day to do!   Don't you just love getting ready for a trade show!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!