Time to tackle the UFOs

So, if you signed up for Dear Jen (as of 8 AM yesterday morning), the Saturday Sampler (BOTH at Thimbles and Things), or Crossing the Finish Line (Hobby Horse), you should have received a confirmation email from me with all the details. 

If you signed up yesterday for either of the two classes at Thimbles and Things, I need to retrieve your information from the website and add you to the distribution list. So be patient. 

If you are in Spice Market, the email goes out today. The admin side of classes is not my strong point! But no worries—there is ZERO or extremely minimal prep for the class, so don't panic. 

We will have loads of fun in those classes, and here is one of my mottos. Actually, there are two of them. 

Ingrain this in your memory!

And here's the second. 

We can, but we won't need to!

Although --- we're going to make all the projects easy enough that the second motto shouldn't have to happen! YES - even Dear Jen!

I got very lucky yesterday. I made it to the thrift store late in the day, and guess what? I found EXACTLY what I was looking for, and it was senior's day! So, everyone in my binding class knows what I'm talking about! It's currently in the washing machine! And for $16, including tax, I have the PERFECT thing (quilted bedspread) for the base of all the binding techniques. I can't even make my own quilted samples for that price. 

I'll contact you today if you sent me an email about not getting into the binding class. So, if you want to be on the wait list for Crossing the Finishing Line, email me (elainetheriault@gmail.com). I will rerun that class, but I will wait until there is enough interest and figure out a time. It will NOT happen this year.  

Phew—once I send this last email regarding Spice Market, I can move on to the homework I've already planned. Four presentations are in various stages of completion, and they'll all be done before the weekend. 

We should all try something new from time to time. So I decided to buy a new kind of soup for lunch. I'm a big Habitant soup lover, but let's go for a different type. 

My "new" soup

So I had this soup last week. Would I buy it again? Would I buy it to replace the Habitant? The answer is NO. Why not? First off - it's DOUBLE the price. Yep -- double, and it wasn't all that great tasting, and I thought it was too watery. Yes - I know it's organic, hence the extra price, but it could at least have been thick and creamy. I'll try another brand another day - they were low on soup the day I bought this. 

But here's the thing - at least I tried! 

Claire and I tried many experiments yesterday, and we killed one of my embroidery machines. It has a wee hiccup, which hopefully can be diagnosed quickly and can return to duty soon. That entailed an "emergency" trip to a dealer (35 minutes away) to hopefully get them to look at it quickly. Fingers crossed. 

As Claire and I discussed what we would do, I remembered having oodles of towels that I bought years ago. I bought them 10 years ago when M was still at home and intended to embroider them. Well, look at those horrible big bands—those are NOT in the right place to welcome embroidery. So we messed with all four of the facecloths and the eight orange towels? I guess I could put them out and use them now! 

My little stash of orange towels

Instead, I went to the Bay and bought NEW hand towels. They were on sale - 40% off and I might return today and buy a few more. The "white" towels in the bathroom are no longer white and are VERY OLD. It's time we had new towels in the bathroom. 

But the price tag was stitched into the hem of the towel!! It was serged into the edge of the orange towels. 

Price tag stitched into the hem

I won't share with you what we did. I'm saving that for my machine embroidery class. 

Remember the homework I gave you yesterday? To dig out a UFO and evaluate it? And then, you need to organize it so that if you decide to give it away or sell it, someone could make it without too much difficulty?

In the tubs I received last week, there were five partially completed projects. I intend to finish all five of them, quilt them, and then donate them. 

This is the condition of one of them. It's in PERFECT order to pass along to someone. The cut pieces are in labeled bags (personally, I'd put a sticker on the bag or a note inside rather than write on the bags - but that's me). It was easy to see where this person left off, so it shouldn't take too long to get this assembled. 

A nicely organized UFO

The other four are in similar states or simple enough that I know how to finish them. This is what you need to do with your UFOs. 

If they are in a jumble like many of mine are, this is NOT good. It's going to take someone way too long to figure it out. They'll lose interest and just toss the stuff. 

This is an example of the current UFO for this month. It was a jumble of stuff - some related to the pattern in the box and some that did not. 

A jumbled mess of a UFO

I got rid of all the excess bits and need to deal with all the embellishments, but the fabric and the partially pieced bits? They are all in bags now, so working on this project will be much more inviting. 

If you are unsure how to get started, why not attend the Virtual Retreat this weekend? It's a perfect place to grab ONE project and sort through it. Then, if you have questions, someone on the call can help you. Or grab that box and sit outside in the nice weather, although today is the last day. Well, it's still going to be nice, just cooler!

But start getting those UFO boxes organized. Do you still want to make the project or are you ready to pass it along? Be ruthless -- how much are you sewing? How long will it take? Etc. Etc. 

I'm going to spin class this morning, so no time for more. But here are the links for the Virtual Retreat. 

Saturday, October 26 -- Starts at 6 PM EST

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89816483795?pwd=Mjc3M3pvVmZPdjdsQzlHS3Zhck52dz09

Meeting ID: 898 1648 3795
Passcode: 248667

Sunday, October 27 - Starts at NOON EST (it may start a bit later since there is a class just before)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82983517671?pwd=ODdsa1FJenQwdFNaQWFTNGd4bEhPZz09

Meeting ID: 829 8351 7671
Passcode: 117636

And on that happy note, I'm out of here!!!!

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao!!!!