Good deeds

I meant to mention this yesterday as it was Giving Tuesday.  I didn't donate any money and I didn't give anything away yesterday. However, I did give away something last week. 

Remember the rag quilt that I finished two weeks ago. I did post the story of this quilt and why Lexi is sleeping on it on QUILTsocial.  If you didn't catch the story on QUILTsocial, scroll to the end of the post. If you want to see how the quilt went together, check out this post. 

Essentially, a customer of mine gave me the quilt partially completed. She no longer wanted it and gave me the pieces.  I decided that it was a good example to work on for QUILTsocial. And after months of clipping, it was done!

Lexi's temporary sleeping spot

All that preamble to get to the actual story about the quilt!  The other day, I ran into someone whom I've known for years. I asked her how she was doing and she said it was going to be an excellent Christmas this year. I asked why?  Her answer warmed my heart, but it also made me furious!  Her daughter was in an extremely abusive relationship and has now been out of the situation for several months. This is the FIRST Christmas that they can celebrate as a family in about 20 years. What is so frustrating about this situation is that while the mother knew about the situation, doctors knew about the situation, other people knew about this situation and yet until the woman involved made the move to leave, NOTHING could be done!  This man needs to be locked up - he is pure evil. 

The woman left her home with a few necessities.  I immediately thought of this quilt and while it isn't anything special, I sure hope it will keep her warm and know that people have been thinking about her for a long, long time and I'm just so happy that she is finally free.  

I'm so glad that I had this quilt on hand to give out. I do have a LOT of other quilt tops that were made to be donated and that's on my list for 2017.  Don't worry - that darn Task Master book of mine is keeping me on the straight and narrow.  Holy cow - there is NO time for resting.  I'm having a blast and I'll be sharing my system with you. 

I hope that you're figuring out which 12 projects to choose for next year.  Don't forget that on Monday, I'll have tips on which projects to choose and how to prioritize. 

Let me chat about something completely non-quilt related - slippers.  Normally, people don't see my slippers, but when I was at the retreat earlier this month, I wore my slippers. Hmmm - there seems to be a problem or two with them. 

Ooops - a few holes

I've no time to shop for slippers.  Now it appears that these slippers are a tad too small and that is why they are bursting at the seams.  I had purchased them at Christmas last year.  Why?  Well, I already had a perfectly good pair of slippers.

Good slippers - but.....

The problem with the pink slippers is that they are slightly too big. So unless I wear socks in them, they slip around on my feet.  I don't like that feeling and it sounds like a herd of elephants is walking through the house.

Then I was looking for a hat or something in the hall closet and guess what I found???  Yep - a BRAND new pair of slippers.

Brand new slippers

However, I'm thinking that these might have been purchased for DH last Christmas.  I looked at them and they are even larger than the pink ones.  They certainly will NOT fit me.

Here's the problem with slippers - they come in Small, Medium, and Large.   The Small is too small, the Medium is too big. I guess I'll have to make a pair.  I do have a slipper pattern, but I like that fuzzy stuff inside.  I see a pattern modification coming up!

Well, it's time to get the day started!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

Baby it's cold outside!

What's with this cold weather?  It feels like the middle of winter.  BUT when one has things to do in the house, I can't really complain.  I didn't get as much done as I would have liked yesterday, but still made good progress.  

Let's see - I still have a tote bag to finish. I needed fusible fleece and I got some yesterday so that shouldn't take too long to finish up. I wanted to make two journal covers - one of them got made this morning.  And if you want to make a journal cover, check out my tutorial that I posted a couple of years ago on QUILTSocial.  It's fast - I think I made the one cover this morning in less than an hour and I had to refresh  my memory (from the tutorial) on how to do it. They are fast, very easy and you are only limited by your creativity!   I'm making a couple with one of Northcott's new fabric lines to take with me to Spring Market. Let's see, then there is a vest and a stuffed toy that I would like to make. The line is called a Stitch in Time.  comes in TWO different colorways.  While it doesn't ship to stores until January of 2017, if you want your local shop to carry it, NOW is the time to ask the shop to order.  It is orderable NOW, but after these orders, it's gone! 

I did manage to get a couple of things accomplished yesterday - I had two of my ongoing classes in the morning.  As usual, I was perusing the shelves at Sew Sisters and came across a fabric that I had been looking for.  That was a great find.  Then I showed the group the round robin that I'm working on from the Grand River Modern Quilt Guild and got the perfect idea from the group.  It's even hand work, so if I'm smart, I could prep it and sew it on the plane on Wednesday.  It just so happened that the Fusible Fleece that I wanted was on sale at Sew Sisters!

Then off to deliver my sick sewing machine to be fixed.  I think it is serious, John thinks it just needs oil.  Bottom line, I've decided to take my favourite sewing machine to work - yes - I'm going to sew every day  - what the heck!  The machine is almost 20 years old, a few parts don't work - the needle threader and the thread cutter, but I'm so used to not using them, it's no big deal.  Then I'm going to pull that Ruby out and start sewing on that at home.  Gosh, the machine is brand new, although I've had it for 3 years!   Out with the small machines - we're bringing the big guns in!  It'll be great because I was a bit limited in the capacity of the machine I had at work.  I think I might have to buy a new insert for my sewing table. Oh well......   And while I was at Brampton Sew n Serge dropping off my machine, I found the companion fabric to the one that I found earlier at Sew Sisters.   What are the chances of that?????

I took pictures yesterday - we had some interesting blocks, but I'm behind and so going to show you the rest of the class pictures from last weekend. 

Eat, Sleep, Golf quilt by Amy Bradley

The pictures are from the Garden Quilt by Amy Bradley.  I see she has a new pattern out - all about golf. It's very cute, although I didn't buy it yesterday when I saw it at Sew Sisters.   I have many of her patterns, but haven't made any.  I'm hoping to get things under control and actually start to do something for me!  That's FUN!!!!

Garden Quilt by Amy Bradley

It appears that as this class winds down next month, the class size is also dwindling!  Marilyn brought in all her finished blocks and she was the only one that brought in work. No worries - the quality of the work was IMPECCABLE.  I would say that Marilyn has mastered machine applique - she's a PRO at it.  I'm very impressed.  

Marilyn's blocks

more blocks by Marilyn

And one more by Marilyn

Detail of one flower center

Wow - I can't wait to see the quilt finished. At least the quilt top.  I had to abandon mine at some point, but I do hope to get back into it.  Since I'll be teaching a lot less classes next year, there is less prep and less time out of the studio and hopefully I'll be able to get some stuff done for me.  Or I wait until I retire at which time, I'm going to refuse to do ANYTHING outside of the house!  I mean, no volunteering for anything!


Speaking of volunteering, you remember a couple of days ago, that I wrote a post on donations during major disasters - like the fires in Fort MacMurray.  Well guess what - they are inundated with unwanted stuff. In particular clothes.  I think we all need to look at the quantity of clothes that we buy and STOP buying.  Think about it - how many T-shirts do you own?  OK - now how many of those do you actually wear on a regular basis?  OK - so what are you going to do with the rest?   But more importantly, why are you going to buy another one?   I feel the need to purge again - I find pitching clothes is now the easiest thing.  So easy that I can't even remember getting rid of stuff like my housecoat!    There are still things in my closet that I don't wear, some of it is brand new.  I need to rotate things around a bit and get rid of stuff.  I'd like it down to the point where all my clothes fit in one suitcase (except cycling clothes and winter stuff).  Shouldn't be hard - I don't need a huge variety of stuff.  At least the clothes are all sorted by category, so I could pick one category a day and eliminate!!!!!!   It pained me the other day when I pulled out a beautiful sweater only to find that it had a couple of small holes in the front.  From catching the sweater?  Moths?  I don't know, but I pitched it - it's of no use to anyone.  


So if you want to help in any situation, it's ALWAYS best - donate money or check to see that what you're going to donate is actually needed.

On that note - I've got work to do today and I'd better get started.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Doing Good!!!!

Wow - the other night when I couldn't sleep, I was thinking about what I would pack in the car if I had 1/2 hour notice.  I couldn't come up with a list.  In my mind, I went through each room - bedroom - only clothes and furniture - easily replaceable. Bathroom - same thing. I must say that my heart leapt into my mouth when I thought of the studio. Now I'm not so worried about the fabric - there is plenty more and there are many quilts that are just quilts, but there are some that are very special to me. So what would I take?  Pets and quilts and pictures and electronics (to stay connected).  And all the more important to keep those "like" things together (like photos), so you could scoop them into a box and be gone in minutes.

In light of this current disaster (and there will be many more in the months/years to come), I've come across some very interesting articles and I hope that you read them (and pass them along) and watch the video. There is a very IMPORTANT and RECURRING message in each link. If you donate THINGS,  you are ONLY ADDING TO THE PROBLEM if what you donate can't be used.   Please think twice about donating anything and instead donate MONEY.  I know - I felt bad when someone asked me at work yesterday about donating fabric to make things and I said no - please donate money instead.

Have a look/read through these links.

Link One - When Disaster relieve brings Anything but relief   (seven minute video, but well worth watching)

Link Two - Red Cross site for the Alberta fire   (bottom line - people are ENCOURAGED to make cash donations)

Link Three - Want to help those fleeing Fort McMurray   (again - CASH donation is first and foremost the most important thing you can do




I will always remember the story of my brother and sister in law.  They live in Penticton. Many years ago, they were put on evacuation warning for a forest fire.  Now if I received an evacuation warning - I'd have the car stuffed in no time flat. I wouldn't be waiting until the last minute as I do with everything else.

However I think they did. My brother was at work when the warning became an order and they literally had to leave the house within a half hour.

They were able to move to the mother in laws house.  However upon arrival, it appeared that my sister in law packed clothes for the two boys and herself.  NOTHING for my brother.  We always get a good laugh over that - not then, but now we tease her all the time!

Fortunately for them, the fire was a slow burner - they watched the fire in the hills for days prior to the order to leave. Their house was saved, but others near them were not and it was sad as we drove through to see the devastation which is NOTHING compared to Fort McMurray.  But the fire came quite close to their house and that is close enough for me in any lifetime.

Again - please think twice about your donations - donate MONEY!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!



And have a look at this site - the pictures are not pretty.  But scroll through them to find the a tiny bright spot. A child's bicycle left intact.  The tire on the bike didn't even melt. How did that bike survive when everything around it was burnt to a crisp?