Deju Vu!

 Oh my --- I am getting to like this quiet pace. No deadlines, yet I'm still getting lots done -- well, I"m getting stuff done, I don't know about lots. I'm reading, relaxing (yet still walking), and well -- it's positively grand! However, I don't think I'm quite ready to retire yet! I've got so much to learn, and teaching (or leading a group) helps me to learn, so I can't give that up entirely!

But what day is it? Oh yes -- Sunday!

My days are positively starting to be like Groundhog Day! Yep -- I got two more community project quilts done. 

Community Project quilt - DONE

The second community project quilt is done!

Both are trimmed and ready for binding whenever I get to that point. My focus is to quilt as many of those small quilts as I can. I am making that roll of batting stretch far. I think there's still enough for another six quilts? I'm losing count. Don't worry -- there are still at least six more small quilts. Then I decided I must check my batting closet to see if there was any other polyester batting. Let's get it all used up! 

I found one piece last week, which is included in the batting count for six more quilts. But look what I found. A HUGE batt at 120" square. Good grief --- well, that's OK, as there are a "few" more small quilts to quilt. So now my goal is to use up ALL the polyester batting, and then I focus on something else. 

A large poly batt

My goals these days are to use up, finish up, and make a dent in those quilts that Diane has made! I have a system going. I try to have one quilt on the long arm before bed. That's done! Then the second quilt of the day has the backing made (if it didn't come with a backing) and that it's ironed, as well as the top. That is done. 

I took the small quilts and paired them up, and those pairs are lying on the floor. Once I have the quilts for the day prepped, I take one of the pairs and put it on the ironing board so I can prep that as I'm quilting the quilts of the day. The stack of paired quilts is rapidly diminishing. I didn't take a picture, but I will for tomorrow. 

It's all about focus! I know I won't have this same flexibility starting in October, so I'm taking advantage of the time now. 

All is good! And then someday. I must start on those bindings! 

I did a quick perusal of my bookshelves to see if I had any of the other titles of quilt history books I bought at the used book sale, and NOPE -- I don't seem to see them. I thought of starting to pull books but got sidetracked. But I did find this book on Durham Quilting from the Durham region in England. Guess what? That's where my Mom's side of the family came from. Perhaps a trip to England is in order! 

Durham Quilting book

I watched a video on the new software for the long arm and learned a couple of things, which I'll play with later today. OK, so here's why I don't like the Power Panto -- not that most of you care since you don't have the software. But some patterns are not nested or not deeply nested, so no partial row is needed to fill in any gaps.  

See how there are no significant gaps along the top? The Basic mode (which I always used in the past) allows me to resize the pattern (with some distortion), but I could have a complete pattern at the top and bottom. 

A complete row at the top using Basic Mode

The new Power Panto mode doesn't allow that to happen because it prevents the pattern from distorting, so regardless of whether you do not need a partial row at the top and bottom, you will ALWAYS have a partial row. That's why I don't like this mode -- at least for these pattern styles. 

Partial row at the top

Partial row at the bottom

Now, I see this mode as helpful if you do NOT want any distortion in the pattern, like a circular design. That's very hard to not distort using the mode that I like. So I should break away from this pattern and try a new pattern each time I quilt! It's just that this one was super easy to place, but time to learn something new. 

I had fewer problems with the placement yesterday, so that is good. For some reason, there was a glitch and let's hope it was an operator error! 

I will be a pro when I get to the customer quilts! 

I listened to three or four hours of that audiobook, and I'm down to the last three hours. It's heavy reading, and I can only handle so much intense focusing. But I did listen to it when I went for my afternoon walk. I hope to finish it today. Now, who the heck is the murderer?? It's about a 10-year-old murder case, and the book is about three characters playing mind games on each other about who did the murder and why. Although there is a current crime that happened, we still don't know why. It's all very mysterious, but zero action, zero chasing bad guys -- it's all mind games!

And I caved and watched two episodes of the Great British Baking show, as I wanted to know who was in the finale. OK -- so that was a surprise! And while watching, I got this much done on my hexagon block for Green Tea. 

Hexagon block for Green Tea

The hexagons are all prepped, and I started to sew them together by hand. Today, I'll be more focused (I hope!) Oh shoot -- DH was going to be leaving this morning so I could have the house to myself, and his plane just got canceled. I don't think he's pleased! Hopefully, he can get the next plane tonight. 

So this is what happens in our house. I'm sitting quietly in the living room, reading my book. Lexi is sleeping on one of the dog mats, and Murphy is jealous and wants to get closer. 

Hey Lexi -- get up! I want to play

I mean it -- get up, or I'll attack you!

You asked for it! Attack!

And then it comes down to a full-blown "attack" where they lay face to face and wrestle with each other. Absolutely hilarious! 

Hey Lexi -- I'm going to chew your face off! 

Oh, those girls are such a source of entertainment. What would I do without them to disturb my peace and quiet??

I did not get out to buy running shoes, but Diane alerted me to an article in the newspaper about buying running shoes. Alas, that was elite running shoes. But interesting to note that there are THREE types of running shoes for serious runners. There's something called a SUPER SHOE that can knock time off your run! Seriously??? Buying shoes has sure changed. Those shoes cost upwards of $300 and last for about 200 KM. Yikes! 

That prompted me to search for hiking boots versus hiking shoes versus trail runners. Many hikers are ditching boots for hiking shoes or trail runners because of the weight and heat. Lots of people are using trail runners, which is something that I'll be investigating. I found a great pair online, but they are waterproof but breathable. I may just have to try those in the appropriate size and see if they work. It's going to be hard to replicate those hot, dry conditions at this time of the year, but I'm just going to have to. I still have a couple of free weekends, and now that I can walk, I should get out for some serious hikes to see how it goes. 

And my cousin is still digging out obscure information. Holy --- I need to put on paper what she has unearthed!!!

On that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!

The learning curve

 

Even though I technically didn't make a lot of progress yesterday, it was an amazing day. I learned so much that my brain was about to explode by the end of the day. 

So I have software that runs my long arm called Quilt Path. I know how to make it work for the very BASIC stuff like Edge to Edge quilting. I downloaded the manual onto my iPad, and I guess I should read it to learn more. There are the manual, videos, and the best thing of all - there's Facebook. If for no other reason, I LOVE Facebook for the user's groups that have formed. 

I was so happy as the day before, I learned how to cut a block design in half and then in quarters with a wee bit of help from the Facebook group and fiddling around with the software. I think I'm good. Except that when I loaded the design into the format screen and told it where to stitch - it wasn't good. 

The design is NOT centered

The darn design wasn't centered, and well, I could have stitched it out, but that wasn't what I wanted, and DARN it - I've come this far, I'm not stopping until I get it right. 

I got advice from one of the users on the group, and then I thought I was good to go. But NO - now the design is too small to fill the space. Centered, but too small. Good grief - how do I make it larger? 

Now the design is too small

I tried to make the design larger in the edit screen, but that didn't help. I EVEN broke down and spent quite a bit of time in the manual. OK - so I understand more and more of these commands. That's a good thing, but no information on how to change the size. 

Back to the user's group. I rarely ask questions, but I bet they'll be happy to see the end of me and my problem! Seriously?? It turns out that all I have to do is TOUCH the boxes with the size and a new menu pops up to enter the size. Good grief - that simple? And I missed it. I think I touched the button with the blue arrows to the right of the actual sizes!!

Changing the size

So I played around with the size a bit and the placement, now that I know how that works. I got it where and how it needs to be. But it was late by then, and I wanted to do all the stitching at once, so I left it for today. But I HAVE to get that quilt off the long arm today. I have three more quilts to quilt and bind before Christmas, and well, I'm running out of time! Thankfully, I'm binding them for the customer, so they aren't panicking about getting them bound. 

Now I want to dig out a quilt of mine to put this new knowledge to the test. Actually, I have several that could benefit from this custom quilting with blocks. I might just dig one of them out and get it quilted while all this information is fresh in my head. Oh my - what fun and what new possibilities have been opened. 

Then I spent a LONG time on a planning session about the embroidery software called mySewnet Embroidery Software. This software works for ANY brand of embroidery machine. It's now available on a subscription basis, as well as buying it upfront, so if you want to kick the tires, so to speak, and see if it works for you, then it's not a huge outlay of money. If you're interested, check out the website or contact your local Husqvarna Viking or PFAFF dealer for more details. I've got several software presentations scheduled for next year - remember - I'll be giving you the top-level view and show you all that it's capable of doing. These are not hands-on classes. 

Oh boy -- I know a lot of this software as well, but as much as I think I know this software, well, let's just say that I learned a ton in that department yesterday as well. But my brain was exploding - not only with the knowledge but with the possibilities of what can be done with technology. Trust me -- I know enough of the software to give you a good overall view, and by then, I'll know even more and have some amazing samples, so watch your local Husqvarna Viking or PFAFF dealer for the invites. 

And if they don't have any online presentations booked, contact them, and DEMAND that they book some sessions! The sessions are good for ANYONE - whether you have an embroidery machine or not. If all you do is buy designs and embroider them, why not investigate what you can do to make your own or create some amazing designs. And if you don't have an embroidery machine, you can still watch and learn about the new technologies happening in the sewing machine world and get a good view of whether you would like to own an embroidery machine someday. 

I need more hours in the day just to skim the surface of what I want and can do with both of these technologies. 

January will be a hectic month - it'll be just for me with lots of experimenting. Speaking of experimenting, I also worked on the T-shirt quilt. I'm making great progress, and the fact that I can quilt it right after Christmas is excellent news. 

As I'm doing the final calculations, pressing, and trimming, I have two piles. 

The garbage and the sample making piles

The one on the left is the garbage - bits of collars, sleeves, and small bits. The pile on the right are the larger pieces that I'm going to use for experimenting with machine embroidery. There are so many stabilizers and designs and combinations that can be used to get successful machine embroidery on T-shirts. The more I experiment, the better I can explain it to someone else. And as I mentioned the other day, some of those knits are very different from T-shirt knit, so I want to play around with those. 

I love this ironing station that I'm using. I need scissors, and all I need to is pull out the drawer, and there are the scissors! This is the Ironing and Crafting station by Singer. I love it - it's big and stable!

The drawer in the Ironing and Crafting Station

So here's the status of the T-shirt quilt. I've almost got three rows completed - well, by completed, I mean, the T-shirts have been stabilized, cut, and ready to start sewing together. There are still a few that need some applique and a couple where I'm going to sew a couple of smaller parts together and stabilize them as one big piece. It seems that I left most of that work to the right side of the quilt!

T-shirt quilt design

I think there are 36 motifs in total from the fronts and the backs of the T-shirts. I think it's such a shame that some people take T-shirts and cut large squares, regardless of what's on them, and make a quilt. Fast and cheap, but does nothing for the shirts, and then you're very limited in how many designs you can do. I took everything possible in the bag of T-shirts and used it. 

It hasn't taken that long to get to this point, but several more hours to finish the job. I've pulled some fabric for the backing and binding, and all I need now is some time. 

The other useful tool when making a T-shirt quilt is that HUGE 20½" square ruler. I thought I had taken a picture of it, but no - I did a screenshot of my phone. Good grief. Anyway - that ruler is the BEST thing as most T-shirt quilts tend to have large blocks. Trimming with two rulers can be done, but having ONE larger ruler saves so much time. 

I have one Zoom session this morning (I'm not hosting - so that's good), and then the rest of the day is free for sewing and quilting. In an ideal world, the custom quilt would be off the machine, and the top of the T-shirt quilt would be together. Can I make that happen? I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

BUT don't forget that today is also Virtual Retreat day. Remember, it starts at 6 PM, and we're back tomorrow all day. Stop by and say HI - you don't have to stay and sew - just pop it. It's the final one for the year, and well, perhaps we can share a glass of good cheer tonight. Hey - I might have to crack open my bottle of Chicken Bones liqueur. 

Here are the details. 

Don't forget the Virtual Retreat this weekend. 

Saturday, December 19   - from 6 PM  - 9 PM. 

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82830374208?pwd=NFA2d1hOaFFwcEdhNFoveWlWeCs3QT09 Meeting ID: 828 3037 4208 Passcode: 150354

Sunday, December 20 - from 10 AM - 8 PM

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83501535963?pwd=aXNvRXdzZG02NllIenB3V0M5NUpxUT09 Meeting ID: 835 0153 5963 Passcode: 032336

And I see that we're going to be in lockdown for another couple of weeks, and the region beside us is now moving into lockdown. More time to sew, I suppose. 

It was like Grand Central Station here yesterday. I had picked up those orders from Thimbles and Things, and people came to pick them up. My front step was littered with bags of stuff! And I got some great goodies to enjoy with my morning tea. Thanks for the goodies - much appreciated since I don't do much in the baking department! 

On that note, it's time to get moving. I have a busy day planned, and I want to say tomorrow how productive it was. 

See you tonight on Zoom or perhaps tomorrow!

Have a great day!

Ciao!!!