Bill Gates is my hero!!!

I solved my computer mouse problem by putting a book under the mouse. For some reason, it no longer wants to run on my desktop. No worries - I'm good with that. An easy and inexpensive fix! I would hope that in our current environment that we're all going to be finding ways to fix things rather than buy a new product.

I can't say that I'm surprised, but I'm a bit taken aback at how the BUY NOW e-mails keep coming through every day. Store owners - I know you're hurting. We're all hurting and the last thing I need is to rack up a credit card debt just because I wanted something to arrive at my door. Having said that, I do want to buy one thing online which I'll share with you shortly. But this is something that I need, not something that an e-mail persuaded me to buy.

I think that we need to dig deep because I don't think this is going to end quickly. Even if we're allowed "out" next month, it's going to be on a very limited basis. Did you hear that of the 44 cases in Newfoundland that ALL of them were linked back to ONE person!!! Please take this seriously! And try something new. I saw a guy who ran a marathon on his 22-foot long balcony. Anything is possible.

My schedule just keeps getting emptier and emptier. At this point, I doubt that I'll see anything back on the calendar until the summer. At least big events. Smaller events may go forward, but I'm not holding my breath.

That means that I actually have a chance to CATCH up on some stuff. Could that be possible? Yes - it's just going to require a lot of focus. The weather is getting nicer and calling my name to be outside!

So this is what's been happening at my house. OH  - here's something else. If you have something "fancy" at your house that you can't bear to use every day - get it out NOW. Life is short and why shouldn't we enjoy what we buy? I purchased these two very expensive tea mugs in 2015. They were in the cupboard for years and several months ago, I dug them out. I now alternate using them EACH DAY to enjoy my cup of tea. They are beautiful mugs and then I put them in the dishwasher. Should the paint fade or wear off, I don't care. I'm enjoying them now instead of having M find them in the back of the cupboard when I'm no longer around. Get something PRECIOUS out today. Who cares how much it costs or how fancy it is - use it every day NOW!!!

My two tea mugs

I got the entire "to be quilted" list updated. All the pages were reprinted and put into the red folder. I didn't do a final count, but there is a lot of quilts. The tubs are labeled, the area is neat and clean and doesn't make you feel happy to see that nice and neat space??? I'm ecstatic about seeing that area so neat and tidy.

The "to be quilted" area

I'm still putting quilts on the bed in the spare room. Every time I pass that room, I stop in to add another quilt to the pile. Here are two that got put on yesterday.

Green modern arrow quilt

And here's my Row by Row quilt from a few years back. I'm loving the fact that all these quilts are now lying flat and essentially pressing all the folds out. Let's hope that no one needs that bed for a long, long time. It will take quite an effort to get all the quilts off it. I wonder how many quilts I can put on that bed???

My Row by Row quilt

Don't worry - there are LOADS more. This is one pile that I'm working on. I'm trying for the moment to only put the lap-sized quilts on the bed. Then I'll deal with the smaller and larger quilts. I'm trying to minimize what's on the floor and on the railings.

More quilts to deal with

I did pull a couple of things off the work tables to deal with. Here's a container of plastic bags. All brand new. I think they were used for dying fabric years ago. Well, not these specific bags, but the boxes were part of my fabric dying stuff. What to do with them???

Plastic bags to deal with

I certainly do NOT need more plastic baggies. I have a cupboard full of them. Well, two shelves anyway. I took all those boxes and put them in the kitchen drawer. At least they will get used there and should anyone required plastic baggies - I have loads - I'd be happy to share!!!

Storage area for plastic bags

I also got another quilt loaded on the long arm. It's my quilt and I made it years ago. Several times already, it's been the "next" quilt to be quilted and then got bumped because of something else. I think something else was that I didn't know how to quilt it. I started off by ironing this HUGE piece of fabric. The quilt is 44" by 45". HEY - why do I have this giant piece of fabric that would be better used for a lap sized quilt. So I measured and labeled the yellow fabric and put it with the rest of the backings.

Yellow backing fabric

I dug through the backings and found something that will work a whole lot better. You see, that yellow was chosen YEARS ago. The new fabric is tight because of the width of the fabric, but it'll work. I've had several ideas for quilting running through my head for the last couple of weeks. I did some research on the internet. Then I had a chat with the quilt. I hung it off the ironing board and sat in a chair and contemplated it.

AHA - I think I know exactly what I'm going to do with it. It's now on the long arm and ready to go for later today. Should I feel like it!!!

Then it was time to deal with another project off the work tables. And I need to get more stuff prepped for the upcoming retreat. Remember it's a virtual retreat. So I dug out the yoga bag. It's a pattern from byAnnie.com. 

In addition to the quilted piece of fabric, there was a plastic drawer full of stuff in Studio U. I dug it out and brought it downstairs.

More supplies for the yoga bag

Oh boy - can you believe what I found in there? FOURTEEN zippers?  Why???  I only need one for the yoga bag. Wait - I actually need three. Now that I'm savvier about zippers, NONE of them are what I want. So that's my job today - try to find someone who is still working who sells the zippers that I want and have them shipped to the retreat house so I can work on the project.

The extra supplies for the yoga bag

I found three different colors of green thread (three????) and a receipt where I bought a lot of this stuff. Do you see the date on that receipt?? Good god - what's the matter with me???

Three spools of green thread and a receipt

I also found all these hardware bits. Really?? What the heck was I going to do with all that? It's now in the box with the other purse/bag hardware. There's a shoulder strap on this bag, but I never use a shoulder strap so it doesn't make sense to add one. Right?? What what I thinking???

Extra bag hardware

So the yoga bag is now prepped except the missing zippers. All the pieces are cut and labeled. There was enough quilted fabric to make a funky shaped zippered pouch and I set aside one of the green zippers for that.

The yoga bag is prepped except for the BIG zippers

What I'm hoping to find is the zipper tape in GREEN, so I can make my own zippers. Look what my BEST FRIEND in the whole world made for me. That's a fork that she's beautifully designed into a tool that makes it easy to put the zipper pulls onto the zipper tape. It's very professionally made. I'm going to owe her a LOT of money for all the little things she does for me!!!  Yeah, Shelly!!!! And Shelly is in the health care profession so an extra shout-out to her in this crazy time. We love you!!!!!

My zipper fork

Now that yoga bag goes into the laundry basket along with two other projects. That makes three projects - I hope to have a total of five. Can you imagine what Tish told me?? That a virtual retreat would allow for a virtual laundry basket which could be as big as my imagination. OH NO - these girls do not understand my virtual retreat!  I'm making it as real as possible. I'm going to have loads of fun with it - just you wait and see. This is good training for the next real retreat. Can I work just from the laundry basket for five days? So far so good in the packing department. No panic packing yet.

My retreat laundry basket

And before I order a zipper for that yoga bag, I should check that I have the correct color zippers for my backpack as I wanted to take that with me as well.

I love the liquid calcium, but alas I ran out of it yesterday. Now I could run around trying to find more, but I do have a container of these GIANT calcium tablets so I'll get those used up. Hopefully, you are all making do with what you have in your house as well!!!!

Calcium tablets to be used up!

I have to share this photo from the Virtual Challenges. Route 66 takes a wee dip into the state of Kansas. It's so small that I wasn't sure if I'd walk through the entire state in one day. My mission (according to Ronda) was to time it so that I'd stop in Kansas. Hey - I'm in Kansas. I know - maybe tomorrow, I'll get to say "Toto - we're not in Kansas anymore!"

My Route 66 Virtual Challenge in Kansas

So much of our world seems to be virtual these days. I heard that Lynn is going to be eating virtual cookies at HER retreat. Too funny!!!  I believe that Route 66 goes through 9 states in total. I'm now in the third state. And almost 1/3 of the way in the distance.

Two people sent me their quilt tops from the North Stars class from The Hobby Horse last year. This is Jana's quilt. She used fabric with DOTS for most of the animals and the background. It's absolutely adorable and my favorite are the otters with their funky large dots!!!

Jana's North Star quilt

Oh, shoot - another sideways photo. This quilt with a BUSY background belongs to Sheila. It's absolutely stunning and that busy background did a great job of showcasing all the animals. It looks awesome Sheila!!!!

Sheila's North Star quilt

If you need to buy something online, here's something to consider. Are you into making jelly roll rugs?? Tired of inserting the batting into those strips? Here are links to FOUR different tools to make that job easier. One of them was made on a  3-D printer and if you have access, you could make your own tool.

Jelly Roll Rug Binding Tool from PUrple HObbies

Jelly Roll Tube Maker by The Gypsy Quilter

Jelly Roll Sasher Fabric Folding Tool  - this is the one that you can 3-D print

Jelly Roll Sasher 


So if you're in the market to make jelly roll rugs - have a peek at those tools. By the way - if you have one of these tools and have used it - I'd like a review so I can post it here. I haven't tried any of them.


I have two other links for you today. One is some VERY WISE words of wisdom by Bill Gates. Have a read - it's very thought-provoking. I LOVE Bill Gates. I think we should print out this letter and tape it to our computers and read it EVERY DAY!!!!   I've been the victim of FAKE NEWS.  This letter was a fake - oh god.   The words were very good. I did save them in a word document.

And now, one last link. It's the final day of my QUILTsocial week with the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 and some of the amazing tools for machine embroidery. Check it out - you'll see what I've been slaving at for the last couple of weeks.

Have a super day!!!  Remember what Bill said!!!

Ciao!!!!

Whatpsapp

If you're not familiar with this app on your smartphone, you should be. It allows a group to stay connected with each other. I now have two groups - one for my Monday sewing and we get to see what each other is working on. Not everyone is on the app - that's their loss because it's a lot of fun. The second is our virtual retreat group. I can't wait for the virtual retreat to start! I need to finish getting prepped. I have a week!

And NOW I have a third group. Our little family! When M saw that I now have Whatsapp, the next thing I knew, we have a group of three!!  Oh, what fun. Our own little FamJam!!!!

You know what this means? I need to learn to type with my thumbs and FAST just like those darn younger generations. Oh my goodness - I'll be practicing that in the privacy of my own home (not difficult to do these days) until I can get really good. Then I can text like that in public - whenever that is allowed to happen.

I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief this morning for two reasons. I've been suffering from a severe (I think) hamstring pull. For someone who can easily touch their toes, I could barely get to my knees without extreme pain. This is NOT good. It was too painful to even attempt stretching. Then I gave myself a shake and said: "if you don't try to stretch, it'll NEVER get better." So I've been delicately stretching and it feels much better this morning. I could touch my knees! And after a few minutes, I made it to my ankles. Yeah!!!!  Hopefully, a couple more days of easy stretching and I'll be able to reacquaint myself with my toes!

The second reason for that huge sigh of relief is that I finished a LARGE, intense project. I can't show you the final version this morning, but if you check out QUILTsocial today, you'll get a glimpse of the project. Check it out. It wasn't without its challenges and that's all I'm going to say for the moment. Plus this was something that I purchased recently from someone through Facebook. Normally that kind of thing would languish in the stash for years, but NO - it just needs to be trimmed and faced!!!  Yeah!!!!!!

Yesterday was a bit of a strange day. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone which was all good because I was gaining useful information. I also did some digging. I was looking for TWO patterns. One of the patterns was in the FIRST pattern box I pulled from the shelf. How lucky was that? While most of the patterns are sorted by style or type, 5 boxes have accumulated and have NOT sorted. So that should be done someday. I didn't have time yesterday, but I should have a sorting day one day.

Searching for a pattern

Someone wanted this pattern (for the iron caddy) and I also found the Teflon fabric so I can arrange for a porch drop off this week. Wait - what day of the week is it??? Thursday - well, in the next day or so.

I think it's a great idea to go through one's patterns from time to time to remind yourself what you have. OH - I saw so many that I still want to make and I also saw many that I had already made. The second pattern? I don't have it. I thought I did, but I think it was one of those that I saw, thought it was cute and never bought.

I decided to get back to those "to be quilted" tubs and complete that sorting task. Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that I found one quilt that was supposed to be in the community projects area so that was one less quilt to deal with on my list. The second piece of good news is that I found an entire tub of quilt tops that needs to be processed (backing and binding made) before they can be added to the "to be quilted" pile. All those tops are now sitting in an IKEA bag.

Quilt tops to be processed

As you can see, it's not overflowing so that's also good news. The other bit of good news is that everything is now organized. Yeah. It's all in tubs except for one bag. I've written the lists on paper and I need to get them on the computer and printed out and added to my book.

The "to be quilted" pile

Oh  - the bad news? I found another forty-nine quilts that need to be quilted. HEY - I said fifty - that was a pretty good guess. Actually, if I count the one that went to community projects, that would have been fifty!!!!! That makes a total of two hundred and twenty-nine, but we're not going there. There's a plan to get these done and it's going to happen. I know it will. The biggest thing is that I know what I have now and can deal with those numbers. The other bit of bad news is that I found about five more projects in Studio U that need to be quilted. Sigh.........


I snapped some photos on our afternoon walk. It was a glorious day!!!  The sun was out and the temperature is warming up! I LOVE it.  But what the heck is happening in our neighborhood? They are digging up little holes everywhere. It looks like a giant gopher has been having fun. I checked with one of our neighbors, who knows EVERYTHING and he said that the fiber optics cables are being upgraded in our area. What a HUGE mess.

A mechanical gopher had fun

The girls and I walked to the mall. I know - it's like a magnet and especially so since there's not much to do these days, but walk. OK - I'm a quilter - that's a total lie, but it sounds good. So we stood at the fence and watched them rip more of the second floor off.

MOM - can we go now???

 I won't bore you with all the pictures, but they have ripped about half of the entire building down and seem to be leaving the other half intact. That's very weird. The parking lot is quite empty! But that's a good thing - it's easy to take the dogs into the parking lot where normally I wouldn't as it's too crazy with cars and those girls? Well, they are not predictable.

The mall parking lot

When I was working on my big project, I got to play thread chicken and I won!!! Yeah - not like I was going to try and find more of that same color. I'd have easily substituted something. But no need for that.

Thread chicken and I won!!!

I was going to happily announce that all quilts that needed to be trimmed were trimmed, but I realized that the big project I just finished, now needs to be trimmed! Oh silly me!!!!

I got half a binding sewn on yesterday. It seems like I'm working like crazy and not getting much to show for it! Well, today, I might just try and clean up some of those worktables. While there are projects that need to be finished, there's also stuff on them that just needs to be put away!! It would be nice to see a bit of progress.

I have to share this photo with you. This is the center of Dana's Aviatrix Medallion quilt. We would be meeting tomorrow, but that isn't going to happen so I asked the students to send me their blocks. Dana sent this to me. WOW  - she didn't go for the easy star - she went for the real deal. Way to go Dana.  This "little lull" will hopefully allow everyone to be completely caught up! I love her block.

The center of Aviatrix Medallion

Speaking of which, I know that some of you have signed up for Summer Moon or Celebration quilt at The Hobby Horse and we were supposed to be meeting this weekend as well. I want to get us started, but I don't have access to the class lists. Sigh.........  So if you haven't already contacted me, please let me know if you signed up for that class and I'll try to get something out. I can't do a whole lot as I don't want those who I can't reach to feel left out.

Here are my tips for you today. Here's a good one about using up your broken rulers. 

And if you want to watch some videos of the Daytona Quilt Show, check out these short videos.

Don't forget to check out QUILTsocial. Some great tips for quilting in the embroidery hoop. God knows I've got loads of experience now.

Here's something else -- if you own one of these sample packs that Fabricland was selling for $1 a while back. Get one of them out. Get some scrap fabrics and try the same style of quilting on ALL the sample battings. Then serge the edges and wash them. That's a good way to learn how each different kind of batting will react in your quilt. I bought a LOT of them. Why? I've no idea - they were only $1.

Sample packs of batting

On that note, I'm out of here. We might go for an extra-long walk this morning to make up some steps. 15,000 in one day is NOT enough. I need 17,000 to keep on pace.

Have a super day!!!!  Get out there and DANCE!!! Or do something creative in your day!!! I don't know if you can see this link but watch this video. I want to live in their house.


Ciao!!!!

Shamefaced

I"m having a first world problem this morning. My mouse is not cooperating as well as I would like! Thankfully I have a touch screen on the computer so that makes life a little bit easier. I've tested the battery and it seems to be fine. It's just not happy - works sometimes and then it doesn't. Oh well......

Wasn't that a fabulous show and tell from our Virtual UFO meeting? Seriously - if you have a group that meets regularly - consider setting up a Whatsapp group. It's a free app for your smartphone. A very easy way to stay in touch with your group members.

I set up another group last night. You see - we were supposed to be going to our quilting retreat next weekend. I was hopeful that things might change and all of us have been socially responsible. Alas, that is not going to happen. We're all bummed out. However, we are now connected via Whatsapp and we can simulate our retreat on the app. I told everyone to continue to pack as if they were going. Then we're going to sew on those days as if we were at the retreat. That's going to be hard to stay focused. But I think it's going to be fun. And that's better than just letting the event slide by.

Here's a couple of other tips that I think we should be doing while we're all in isolation or social distancing or whatever. We might as well be isolated since we can't go anywhere.

1. Get dressed every day as you normally would. Don't wear your PJs every day. 
2. If you are bored find something else to do than have a snack! Do not snack more than you normally would. You'll regret it when you try to put those jeans back on. 
3. Call a friend. Think about your friends who live alone. I'm sure some of them would appreciate a call.
4. Don't go crazy ordering stuff online - you will eventually get a bill. 
5. Try to learn something new every day. Be that on the internet or from one of your quilting books, practice your free motion quilting. 
6. Organize something that you have wanted to do for a while. 
7. Read a new genre of book - loads of books are available electronically. Learn how to listen to audiobooks if you've never done that. Or try an e-book if you've never read one. Magazines are also available online - not all, but some. 
8. Exercise! Go for a walk, create weights from cans of veggies or whatever you have in the house, do leg lifts, whatever you do - keep active - it's important for your health. 
9. Drink lots of water. Just do it - it's good for your health!!
10. Don't panic! It's darn scary for everyone but we are in one of the best countries in the world (For those of you in Canada) and we are all in the same boat (all over the world). 

DH thinks I'm Mary Poppins - way too cheery and optimistic. But hey - if you're not - what's going to happen?? I can't stand doom and gloom. There's always a silver lining in everything. 

Speaking of which, I finished The Goldfinch yesterday. HOLY - it was a very strange book. I'm so thankful that I have a positive outlook on life and that I was dealt a good hand when I was born. I won't say more than that in case anyone wants to slog through the book. I don't think I could have read the book, but it was OK to listen to THIRTY-TWO hours!! It was long. Thankfully the next book I'm reading is only 13 hours and totally different. It's called After the Flood and most of the earth is underwater. I"m not sure what enticed me to select that book. I NEED a good mystery. 

So why am I shamefaced? As I was standing at the long arm yesterday, I thought I might have a peek in one of the bags of community projects quilts that are waiting to be quilted. NOOOOOOOOOOO.  The bag was filled with MY quilts. I think there were four quilts in the bag. Well - at least I found two quilts that I had been searching for. 

Hmmm - we need an intervention here! So this morning, I thought instead of doing any work that I should start to go through the tubs. Remember, I had started a while back. I have a master list and I'm verifying that each tub has the right quilts in it. It makes it easy for me to find a particular quilt if I need to. The task was started but not completed. 

The tubs are also sorted by categories. I know - how sad is that that my "to be quilted" quilts can fit into categories. I even found one for Striped quilts. I have enough striped quilts to make a category?? Yep!!!!

Category of striped quilts

This is the bag that I found among the community project quilts that belong to me!!

A lost bag of quilt tops 

OH -- I'm just realizing that one tub didn't get in the picture but it's in the tally. 

The "to be quilted" pile

So - in these fifteen tubs, I found - can you guess how many quilts I found to be quilted? I'm so ashamed to say how many there are. Each quilt has a backing and except for one or perhaps two, all the bindings are made as well. So that's a positive thing. 

Are you sitting down?? OK - I'm hanging my head as I write this number. I'll whisper it so it doesn't seem so bad. One hundred and seventy-six. Yes - one hundred and seventy-six. And there are four quilts on the table waiting to be quilted before the end of the month. Oh my. They range from table runners to kind-sized quilts. 

But WAIT - that is not the final count as these tubs haven't been accounted for. Yes - there are four more tubs and three bags. I'm guessing that there are an additional seventy-five quilts in this pile. OK - maybe fifty. 

Quilts to be cataloged

ACK!!!!  Even if I were to quilt one a day - that's a lot of quilting!!  Thankfully, I just bought two rolls of batting! But the good news in all this is that I'm starting to quilt my own quilts. Before, I'd make them and leave them. At least, I'm working on them - slowly, but making a teeny tiny dent. I'm sure that some of those quilt tops will end up being donated. But my priority is to get the ones in the community project pile quilted first!

As I checked through some of the quilts this morning, I found a bag of embroidery thread. I was probably going to quilt this quilt with that thread. No - not doing that now. It's going into the embroidery thread box. 

Embroidery thread found with a  quilt

I dare not even guess how many UFO's still need to be added to that pile. So if anyone suggests starting a new project? Or buying more fabric?  HA HA HA HA HA. 

Let's just say that if we stay in self-isolation for a while, I won't run out of things to do!!! I will get bored so it's important to do different things every day. I even thought of doing a jigsaw puzzle yesterday, but sadly the worktables are still piled with stuff. I hope that today I can focus a bit and I'm trying to find the missing binding for one of the quilts that need the binding attached. I know it's made - just where is it???

And even though I'm busy all day, I don't seem to have a lot to show for it. In the last couple of days, I got two small quilts quilted. Wait until Friday and you'll see what I've been working on.

Customer quilt - DONE

Customer quilt - DONE

I'll get those trimmed later today and then they can be porch delivered to the customer later this week.

And I got the binding on this last Quilts of Valour quilt.

The binding is on the last Quilts of Valour quilt

So that concludes my commitments to customers and my community projects quilts for the month. I have an entire week to do my stuff! Yeah!!!  I did pull a couple of my quilts to quilt until it's time to start the process all over again next month.

When I was in Saskatoon, I found the Secura thread that I had been looking for here!! This is a HEAT-ACTIVATED Button thread. Doesn't that sound like the best thing??? I can't wait to give it a try. I've got to find a button to sew on!

Secura - heat-activated button thread

I had another wake-up moment yesterday. So I'm averaging 6 miles a day in walking outside with the girls and the bit of walking that I do around the house. However, I realized last night that I need to be walking 7 miles a day to keep up my pace with my Virtual Challenges. DUH!!! Why did I forget that? So I have to add one more mile a day to my routine!! The girls are going to be thrilled, however, I might take a walk by myself without them. It's a challenge to walk both of them and they aren't getting better. Well - slightly. It would be nice to have a nice quiet and peaceful walk by myself.

Here's the price of gas yesterday afternoon. We haven't seen that price in ages. Yikes! I know it was going to drop even further last night. 

Gas price yesterday afternoon

It's so quiet outside. No one is outside although I did see a guy on his bike yesterday. Keeping my distance, I asked if he was enjoying riding without any traffic. Glorious! he said!! I should get out, but it's still a bit chilly for me.

Check out QUILTsocial today.  It's all about using the decorative stitches on your sewing machine in EMBROIDERY MODE. I know - did you know you could do that??? 

Well - that's a wrap for today. Please be smart! The more people don't listen to the requests being put on us, the longer that this shut down is going to happen. I've seen some stupid things posted online and all I can say is - let them get sick!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Our Virtual UFO Meeting

The situation isn't getting any better in our world. However, here's something that we need to be extremely thankful for. We have the internet, we have smart devices, we have EASY ways to stay in touch. We should NEVER take that for granted. Data limits have been waived. Imagine if we had to self-isolate and really, truly be "isolated".

Trust me, I'm not happy about it, but there's no sense worrying about any of it. It just means that I may, at last, have a chance to catch up (HA - HA - HA  - even I chuckle at that thought). BUT - -you have to admit that I now have the "to be quilted" piles under control. They are getting smaller - maybe not super fast, but they are getting smaller and you know what? Progress forward - that's all that counts.

So with the wonders of the internet, the UFO group was able to meet. Here's the homework that each person completed.

Susan's goal was to complete two blocks for her Farm Girl Vintage quilt. The first one is Grandpa's truck. That block is so adorable and do you see the sheep in the back of the truck?? I LOVE it. It's a 12" block in case you're wondering. This may have come from the second book - I know it's not in the first book.

Grandpa's truck block

The second block was the horse block. This is also a 12" block. Thank goodness because there are a lot of pieces in that block!!!!

Way to go Susan!!!!! 

Susan's second block - the horse

Shoot - I have to list these in the order they appear in my book or I'll be totally mixed up and god forbid that someone didn't get their homework done!!!

Oh, shoot - you have to turn sideways to see this one. Dede was supposed to put the pieced border on her Rosewood Cottage quilt and it looks like she added the final border as well. Well done Dede!!!! It looks amazing - I absolutely love the colorway of this quilt. The colorway is very unusual and I'm sure it wasn't easy to find matching fabrics.

Borders on the Rosewood Cottage quilt

Sorry for the photos - I just saved them as they came in and some of them are sideways and not cropped!  Jane got her Kaleidoscope quilt top together. This was a UFO that had been hanging around for a long, long time and the top is together. All that remains is to get it quilted!!! Way to go Jane!! She must feel absolutely thrilled to get that done and her son might still like the colors! Jane sewed this while she was at a retreat a couple of weeks ago.

Jane's Kaleidoscope quilt

She also had to get another quilt top together. I don't think she was supposed to get the entire top together - but she had to work on the blocks and the sashing. Mission accomplished!!!

Jane's wonky star quilt

I don't have a picture of Linda's homework, but she did finish the applique on her spool quilt. Then she made a valiant attempt at the curved piecing on the blocks for the Pickle Dish quilt. After much frustration, she pulled out another UFO and worked on that. I'm going to accept this. If there's a good reason why it doesn't work - I'm OK with that. Her new project is a string quilt.

String quilt that Linda's working on

Hey - I remember this quilt. I love that little pop of color. And Linda? - You and I are going to have a wee lesson on curved seams. They are super easy (I know - for me, they are super easy) and together, we will concur those nasty things.

Here's my quilt top - FINISHED. This is the first $10 quilt that we ever did at the Hobby Horse. It's HUGE - I think it's about 94" by 111" or some ridiculous thing like that. The first border (the yellow one) was easy to put on. It was the next one that was a pain. I had sewn all the little sections together so the borders were in one piece (for each side). Some of them were a wee bit too long which I guess is better than too short.

Pieceful Year

I had to make a second seam in several places (which you can't notice) to make the borders shorter -  until they fit properly. And now the top is done!! I dug through the fabrics in the backing stash and found a bolt that was almost large enough. I had to dig out two other pieces of fabric to make it large enough. It's partially assembled. But that wasn't part of my commitment. I hope to get it completed today.

I have a question about the fabric I have set aside for the binding. I have loads of that dark green in the outer border. It's a yard dyed fabric. Will it hold up for the binding???  Oh heck - why not play with fire and just go for it!!

I even had help as I was taking my picture. Anything soft on the floor is like a magnet to Murphy. Look at that face  - how can you discipline that face?

My model

Sharon's goal was to get seven trees sewn along the top of the block for her 2000 Piecemaker's Calendar quilt. Can you see how fiddly those trees are?? Great job Sharon! You're getting close to getting this quilt done - it's going to happen and you're going to be so relieved!!!

Sharon's block from the 2000 Piecemaker's Calendar quilt

Ronda is paper piecing a wall hanging and her goal was to get 6 more sections pieced. And there are the 6 pieces. OK - I want her to start sewing this quilt together! But she still has loads of little bits to make before she is done this project. It's getting done - that's all we care about!

Ronda's paper pieced project

Lynne's goal was to make four more cat blocks. I can't remember how many she had made before but here are her cat blocks. These are adorable and they have an embroidered (quilted) background. The cats are from Lunchbox Quilts, but she essentially made up the blocks using a variety of sources for patterns. Awesome job Lynne!!!!

Lynne's cat blocks

At last - Laura has completed all the wedges for her PRISM squared quilt!! They look absolutely amazing! I can't wait to see the entire quilt together. Way to go Laura - I know it was a long slog to get those done and only a few more seams and you'll have a very colorful circle!!!

Laura's wedges for PRISM squared

Elaine's goal for this month was to dig out her Snowman Collector quilt and take inventory of what needed to be done. She made huge leaps and bounds by getting part of the quilt top sewn together.

From the looks of it, she's got quite a bit sewn together. It's looking awesome.

Snowman Collector quilt

I have to laugh as I read some of the notes that came with the e-mails that I received. A few choice words but imagine the relief that everyone is going to feel once these projects are done. I know that some of these UFOs are OLD - very OLD. Thank god for the UFO group as these quilts are going to get done!

Diane T's goal for the month was to get this quilt quilted and bound. Ooops - another sideways photo. I should have taken them into the photo editor but I did not. Oh well. Anyway - I LOVE that binding. I wonder if it's one piece of fabric or did she make the binding from the leftovers in those blocks? I just went back and reread her e-mail. YES - she used the leftovers from the blocks to make that binding.  It looks awesome but she's crazy to have done all that work!!!! 

Diane's quilt is quilted and bound

Here's the other thing. Some of the people are doing things that they didn't want to do. Or that they weren't comfortable doing - like quilting a quilt. Or doing curved piecing when that was the reason the blocks got set aside in the first place. I think the group is doing amazing!! We all need to pat ourselves on the back!!


Liz had a lot of satin stitching to do. She had to stitch around all the edges of the pieces on these two blocks. I think this quilt is called Quilter's Garden by Amy Bradley.

Liz's two applique blocks

AND - she had to stitch around the rain boots as well. All these blocks are so adorable!! I LOVE them all.

The rain boot block

Shelly sent me her e-mail a long time ago and I had forgotten it. OK -- got the picture. Her goal was to assemble all these components. I think there were 116 in total. Looks like they are all done - great job Shelly!!!

Shelly's 116 components

I took this picture of Diane's homework so back to my phone to retrieve that one. Her goal was to get this tessellating cat quilt quilted and bound. It looks great Diane! She stitched in the ditch around all the cats. Yikes - I hope she did that free motion because otherwise, that was a lot of work!!!

Diane's tessellating cat quilt

And the last person (that means EVERYONE got their homework done!) is Katheleen whose goal was to finish embroidering the last two blocks for her Snow Days quilt. WOW - that was a LOT of work, but the blocks are done!!!  Way to go Katheleen!!!!!

Kathleen's' embroidered blocks

I did get the NEXT homework assignment from everyone, although I didn't always get a picture which is OK - that wasn't required. Katheleen is going to be working on some of the pieced blocks (as seen above) for the Snow Days quilt.

Diane has one more quilt to quilt and bind.

Diane's homework for the coming month

These are a set of placemats that Dede started a long time ago. Over 10 years to be exact. She's going to finish half of them (four of eight) for our next meeting. That means quilted and bound!!

Dede's placemats for her next homework assignment

This is Diane T's homework for next month. She's going to make a pillow from this embroidered block. The pillow form is next to the image of the peacock!! 

Diane's embroidered peacock

 This is a small project that Jane is committing to quilt 6 blocks for next month. 

Jane's quilt that she'll be quilting

And that's it for the virtual UFO meeting. While that wasn't as exciting as seeing the finished items in person, it's a good substitute. Again - we should all be extremely thankful that we can continue on in this manner. Hopefully, we'll have the "all clear" for next month.

I think everyone deserves a pat on the back for accomplishing stuff that has languished in the closet for years - in some cases - TWENTY years. It's our job to be responsible quilters and get some of this huge mess that we've created cleaned up. Our little group is making huge leaps and bounds and we should all be very proud of ourselves!!!

I hope that all of you are working on your UFOs and if you want me to post pictures, I'd be happy to do that. We could have a virtual quilt show - what's your UFO and what's the latest UFO that you've completed. Tell me the story and I'll share it here. It's not that I'm running out of things to say or show you - oh gosh - no - that'll never happen. It's just that it allows us to get to know each other a wee bit better!

Stuff is happening at my house and I'll share that with you tomorrow. I went for a walk in the rainy afternoon with the girls. There's only one bad thing about this and it started at the beginning of the year. They are now in the habit of getting an afternoon walk. They demand it! But it wasn't raining that hard and I put on my rainjacket and away I went. It really was quite pleasant and I'm glad I went. I did NOT sit in the gazebo when I got home!!!

I'm almost finished The Goldfinch. OK - so this took a totally different tack than I thought even possible. It's a sad story and with two hours left, I can only hope that it takes a positive spin. I just need to thank my lucky stars that I'm not and never was as messed up as this poor kid is. It's so sad and yes - I know it's only a story, but HEY - I bet there are a lot of people in the world like him. OK - maybe they didn't steal a painting, but still messed up!

BTW -- if you are stuck in close quarters with someone and you're going crazy, buy yourself a pair of headphones (NOT earbuds, but over the ear headphones). Glad to help out Linda!!!  They are the best thing ever. You can listen to your music, your audiobook, your podcasts or whatever and you will NOT disturb anyone. It's like being in your own little world. My headphones have a battery life of about 30 hours so I'm good to go!!! Do yourself a favor if you don't have a pair. You can buy online and have them shipped.

It's day two of my week for QUILTsocial. If you have an embroidery machine - you might want to check this out. It'll give you something to play with today.

On that note - it's time for our walk and I see the temperature is above zero. Yeah!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!