It's DONE

I don't know why I'm surprised. Everything seems to take way longer than you plan for it to take. That job that you thought would be finished in one hour  - well three hours later, you're still working on it! 

That seems to be me these days. Probably because a lot of the jobs I'm tackling are ones that I've put off because I didn't want to do them and my goal is to let NOTHING get in my way of getting those ugly jobs accomplished. PROCRASTINATION will not be allowed in this house (at least for now!) It's not easy to euphoric when you get a hated job done - I'm usually so exhausted and relieved that I don't feel a thing!

I'm tired of the talk - it's time to walk the talk!! If you want something done - do NOT continue to complain about it. Mark a date in your calendar, get the appropriate resources in order and go for it. If you want, allow yourself a small reward after. BUT - if you're waiting for someone to help you - that's not going to happen. Want a job done? Do it yourself!!!!  Oh - I have a good story to go along with that, but it'll have until tomorrow - I've already loads to share with you today.

It was a Community Project day for me. And for the most part, it was. But FIRST - I had to get the binding on the LAST customer quilt to leave the house for this year.

The first part of the binding is done! And Rose - I was thinking of you when I sewed this on. The quilt is flannel and so is the binding!

Side one - sewn in place

Then I found some matching thread and sewed the second side on. This is the easiest thing in the world to do. I've now done so many of these bindings and I seem to get better with each one. I know it's not for everyone and some of my special quilts will NOT be bound like this. But everyday quilts? They are just fine! If you don't know how or are afraid, I've got a whole pile of links on QUILTsocial. But here's one for sewing the binding on with the sewing machine.  Shoot - that wasn't the one I wanted, but I'm running out of time. I'll post the entire lot of them soon.

The binding is attached to the front

 I know it's a bit overkill, but those top of the line sewing machines with the built-in IDT (creation Icon by PFAFF) or IDF (Designer EPIC by Husqvarna Viking) with the extra power make putting on binding by machine a total BREEZE. I'm in love with them.

There's even a small label inserted into the binding.

Binding is now complete!!!!

While the entire basement is looking pretty good, there are a few more things that need to be brought down and sorted. Things that got shoved upstairs when we had the issue with the water. Now that I have homes for some of that stuff, it's time to bring it down. I brought down a couple of baskets and most of the stuff in them is sorted and put away and MORE empty baskets. BUT guess what I found?

That would be my luggage scale! I knew I had one - just no idea where it was. Well - it's got a new home now - INSIDE the sample suitcase! Yippeee!!!!  So glad I didn't go out and buy a new one.

My luggage scale - no longer lost

Then I decided to get something quilted. I'm on a roll - so far at least one item per day for the last little while. There's so much that needs quilting, that I hate to take a day off.

I had a panel that we found in the boxes of stuff for community projects. We decided that it would work for placemats. We also found some yardage of Christmas fabric which would be perfect for the backing. BUT both pieces were the same width and pretty much the same length. That doesn't always work well (OK - it doesn't work at all!) for quilting. I added some waste strips along the sides.

Waste strips are added to the sides of the backing to load on the long arm

 I choose my new favorite quilting design and away the robot went.

The robot is quilting the quilt

Here's a close up of my new favorite quilting design. It's not new to me - I bought it a while back, but I've just started to use it. I love it!

Geometric quilting design

I had to snug the top fabric right up to the top edge of the backing. The backing was only two inches longer than the top. I thought about putting a waste strip on the bottom as well, but you know me - let fate fall where it lies. 

The top is snuggled right up to the edge

Thank goodness for selvages as that allowed the fabrics to lie directly on top of one another and keep that seam untouched where I added the waste strips. 

The fabrics are JUST the right size

Judging the bottom of the quilt top is another art. Normally I make the pattern ½" shorter than the quilt top - don't ask! But in this case, since I had so little space, I knocked off 3/4". I should have done ½" as you can see the traveling stitches are still on the piece. These are placemats - it's not going to matter. And hopefully, the binding will cover or be right next to that traveling stitching. If I'd adjusted as I normally do (although it's a total crapshoot), I would have been OK.

The pattern was ¼" too short

Here's the completed "top". The idea was to cut the piece apart to make placemats. Each placemat would consist of two squares. But that might make them too long and narrow. Hmm - I shall do some checking. I might just cut the placemats to the correct size and totally disregard the panels. They might look a bit weird, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

The front of the quilted yardage

You can see the backing and the waste strips are still attached. I'll remove those strips after the pieces are totally trimmed. Adding the waste strips is a slick trick if your backing is just barely the size of the quilt top.

The back of the quilted yardage 

Since it was Community Projects day, that meant it was time to tackle another IKEA bag of scraps. As I pulled the top bag off the pile, I knew I was in for a surprise. One end of the bag was very heavy compared to the other. That can only mean one thing. Wait for it.

I started by emptying all the bags onto the floor. The first one or was that two were filled with flannel pieces. Some of them were large enough to become a quilt backing. I dumped the entire thing into the washer to freshen up those pieces. They're downstairs on the ironing board this morning and will be folded and sorted into the appropriate spots for our next group day.

Flannel pieces to be washed

That heavy side of the bag? Oh yes - there was a bag of decorator fabric. Seriously???  There are so many decorator samples out there - we NEED to find something to do with them. Imagine how much of this is filling our landfills.

Decorator samples

I started by opening them up. Oh yes - these are the HUGE ones - about 24" squares.

Large squares of decorator fabric

 In total, there were 43 of them. ACK!!!!! I folded them and put them under the stairs with the other huge pile of the large ones. Can they be used for toiletry bags for women's shelters? Or wheelchair/walker bags for senior's homes? Or a shoe bag?? Or a tote bag? The problem (for me at least) is that the fabrics are pretty hideous. I can't believe that anyone would put these in their house for drapes or upholstery. GASP!!!  So if anyone has a brilliant idea of what to do with these - I'd love to hear. Send me an e-mail. I don't think I'm going to need them all for pet mats!

43 samples of decorator fabric

There was a bag of pillowcases. That's going to Diane who can use these for her scraps.

Pillowcases to make pet mats

I found two sheets and two pillowcases in another bag. The pillowcases went with the other pile and I washed the sheets. They're going to be cut up to make foundations for our string quilts.

Two sheets and two pillowcases

And guess what? There were three bags of actual scraps in that grouping.

Three bags of scraps

 And yes - they were scraps - lots of batting scraps and fabric scraps. This is what I wanted - real scraps to make the pet mats. Not most of the stuff I ended up with. However, I did ask for sheets and pillowcases to make the mats. Amazing what people will throw your way because they don't' want to deal with it. I refuse to do that to anyone! And that includes all my fabric and projects. If I can't take responsibility for it - well, there's something wrong with me! I'm determined to get this mess under control!

The scraps to stuff the pet mats

 I found instructions for a fabric book. I kept those as I've got a plan for the words. I have a few and am always looking for more of the words! Very specific request - I just want the words!

Instructions from a fabric book 

 And so with my overflowing scrap box, I made three pet mats. They are completely finished and waiting to be delivered in the new year.

Three completed pet mats

And because I'm so totally anal now about how things look (and I'm a sorter), I went into the furnace room and filled the IKEA bag with more bags of scraps and whatever. So I've still got four full IKEA bags which are sitting neatly beside the long arm. The rest is in tubs under the stairs in the furnace room. By my guess, there is still FIVE bags worth of stuff under the stairs! Can you believe it?? Well - I can and I hope that the next couple of attempts will be as easy as yesterday was!

It doesn't matter - it's getting done. That's all I care about! NEVER - NEVER - NEVER - will I allow that to happen again! I'm watching things that come into the house like a hawk! And I'm getting more and more ruthless with things that are in the house!

I took the girls for a long walk in the afternoon - it was so gorgeous - how could you not?

Then it was time to buckle down and get that dreaded job done. You know - the flying geese one. After HOURS of stitching and cursing at the invisible thread, it's done. All 160 of the flying geese are stitched down. Now the quilt will be easy to quilt with an overall pattern.

The flying geese are stitched in place

Then it was time to work on something for ME.

Here's my gingerbread quilt with the PLAIN borders stitched on. I tried to like the striped fabric, but just couldn't. It was too busy and just not right for the style of the blocks.

The gingerbread quilt top - DONE

This is one of my UFOs and it's almost time to cross it off the list. The backing is now made. Isn't that appropriate fabric for the backing? I've been sitting on a bolt of that stuff forever!

The backing for the gingerbread quilt

All that remains is to make the binding and I'm struggling. I've found three choices.

Binding choices

Here's number one - the strip. It'll be bias binding if I use this and I kind of like it. Adds a wee bit of fun to the quilt. But it's quite "bright" compared to the fabrics in the quilt.

Striped binding?

Then I used the monochromatic green. Boring - that one got nixed right away. I'm a very visual person and I need to see things and it was pretty obvious that a plain binding wasn't going to cut it.

Boring green print

And then there's this one that I found in the stack of the backing fabrics. It's got a dot on it with all the colors in the quilt. Hmmm - now that I see all the choices - I'm thinking this is the one to use. I was going to ask you all, but now that I've seen and discussed the choices (with myself), this is the one I like the best. DONE! Since it's a UFO day today, I'll be making that binding later and then I get to cross this one off the list.

Dotted binding

So lots of stuff is getting done - it just doesn't seem like it. I did promise myself that I'd finish a couple of the UFOS on my three lists before the end of the year. Oh boy - I still have three UFO days scheduled for this year. I'd better pick ONE project and focus on it for the next couple of days.

On that note, I'm out of here! Got loads to do! Remember - only YOU can make things happen in your house. I'll post a few of my best tips on decluttering and organizing before the end of the year. And I'll try to post the list of classes for next year tomorrow. I know some of you have sent me an e-mail about Vintage Christmas sign-up. You're in  - I'll hopefully send you a confirmation today.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The dirty dozen (s)

So it was the last official Sit n Sew on Sunday. I had work to complete for a customer - you'll see in a minute, but I also had time to work on something for me.

Here's the deal - I made a list of 12 UFOs that I wanted to complete in 2017. I was silly and actually put thirteen items on the list - a bonus. How thoughtful of myself - NOT! There are still four items left to finish on that list. All of them are piecing (one has some fusible applique), but I don't think any of them would take too long to finish!

Then we have the list for 2018. Originally there were twelve items on that list and there's still six projects to finish.

And if we were to chat about the list for 2019 - oh - there's still ten on that list.

YEP - I'm going to make a new list for 2020. I know - call me silly, but I am making a vow to myself to NOT push these things off again.

I have a goal and that is to complete at least one item (hopefully more) from each of the three lists. Then to set out goals in The Taskmaster to get more completed this year. I've made enormous progress on some of them as they required hand applique or embroidery. So it's not like I've been slacking. I just go slowly.

Why am I telling you this? Because one of the projects I worked on at the Sit n Sew is an item from the 2018 list.

Remember all that applique I did earlier this year? On my Gingerbread quilt???  Well - it's almost together.

The blocks are trimmed, the embroidery ends are tucked in and the top is now in two pieces. I ran out of time this morning to get that last seam stitched. A job for later today.

The gingerbread quilt

This was started in 2007 as a Block of the Month at Jillybeans's in Oakville (long since closed) and over ten years later - it's almost done! The big issue now is borders. A long time ago, I had purchased this striped fabric which I thought would make a great border.

Now that I have the top together and see the fabric with the quilt, I'm not so sure.

Striped fabric for the border

The colors are PERFECT. I'm not sure if it's too busy? Or just not the right feel with all that applique, but I'm not convinced that this is what I should be putting on as the border.

The pattern calls for a plain border of the background fabric and I think I'm liking this better. The problem is that I don't have enough of the background fabrics to make that happen. Although I didn't look through the stash.

Plain border

 I'm sure that if I can't find the exact fabrics, I can find something that'll work. I'm sure any beige/light tan will work. I'm not worried about finding something to match up. Getting this quilt completed (not quilted) will be awesome and I can hardly wait to check it off on my list. BUT that's not going to be my one item on the 2018 list to be completed before the end of the year. OH NO - I have other plans. One of the other projects on the 2018 list is the UFO project I've been working on all year. I'm sick of that quilt and my goal is to get it completed as well.

Now I just need to schedule some days in the calendar that are UFO-related and I-m, good. I just scheduled THREE UFO days between now and the end of the year to get these projects done or at least as many as I can work in. Yeah --  and if those quilts weren't on any list, they wouldn't be on the radar. So the list isn't working quite as well as I wanted, but it's working and I'm sticking to it. My goal for this coming year is to focus on those lists. How will I do that? Through the UFO club which I'll chat about later this week. I might want to take some time today to actually find all those projects!

I told you, I'm so motivated that it hurts. And I'm focused on cleaning up this mess. I've seen huge leaps and bounds this past year so I know it can happen.

What else did I work on? Well - here's the customer project that I did. I have the "best" customers. They want something made, yet they don't want to make it so they ask me to do (for a price of course). Besides quilting quilts, I make labels and attach bindings. This time, I got to make a duvet cover using a quilt top. Yikes!! Nothing like trial by fire!

I started out by quilting the quilt top to a large piece of fabric. We used a quilt backing. That was to protect the seams from the pieced top from fraying. No batting.

The quilted top of the duvet cover. 

Then I trimmed off all the excess backing. The biggest job and thank goodness for the work tables was to trim the back of the duvet to match the front.

Trimming the back of the duvet cover

I pinned the heck out of those two pieces and serged up three sides. It even has loops inside to attach the duvet cover to.

Serging the duvet cover together

The edges on the opening were turned under and the snap tape was meticulously pinned in place and then sewn with the sewing machine.

Sewing the snap tape in place

The snap tape is now in place.

The snap tape is sewn into the duvet cover

There's the final duvet cover. It worked out way better than I imagined. The extra fabric behind the duvet cover provided a LOT of stability. I'm really happy with the project and would do it again and might even find something around here that would work to make one for myself.

The completed duvet cover

I also managed to get a customer quilt quilted. It's delivered.

Customer quilt - DONE

There are three more customer quilts to go this week. A Quilts of Valour quilt as well and then some of my stuff.

I've got almost THREE FULL weeks with NOTHING booked (except two private classes) and the rest of the time is mine to book how I want. It's starting to get filled with things for me. Like today is a clean-up day. A day that I am NOT allowed to reschedule. So far, I've been doing great with that aspect of it. I don't think I'll get to the office today as I still have a few things in the basement that need to be taken care of. It's all good. OH - I just booked a cleanup day for the office. No excuses now. I can't put it off any longer!

Even though today is a cleanup day, I have some paperwork to clean up so I guess that fits in the theme of the day.

Before I go, I will say that our monitored smoke detector works just fine. DH was merrily cooking something at extremely high heat (don't go there) and was standing right there as the meat (not for me) is merrily smoking away. Why???  I've no idea. Anyway - our standard smoke detector went off and then the monitored one went off. That's the one we have to pay attention to because the voice at the other end was prepared to send a fire truck. NO - we don't need a fire truck, but thank you for being there!!!

I should have taken a picture of that monitor when it was BRIGHT RED because of the triggered alarm. Or Murphy who was perched upon the ottoman (where she's not supposed to be) or Lexi cowering in her house because they were freaking out. All is good!

The fire alarm monitor

 In the event, I do tackle the office today or part of it, I took some "before" pictures. What a mess!

On that note, I'm out of here to hit that paperwork!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!

Be careful what you eat!

Mondays are just the best. I know that I say that every week, but it truly is an inspiration to be among so many talented women. Best of all, we learn so darn much for each other or as a result of research based on the conversations. Did you know that while a Tesla car might be a super cool car to drive, it's not a very practical car? With a fully charged battery, it has a range of 220 Miles. And it takes 1 ½ hour to get a full charge? That full charge costs about $13 US. Hmm - I think I'm very happy with getting over 700 KM for approximately $50 with my car. Sorry Tesla - while self-driving might be cool, the battery thing is not. Yep - I could charge at home, but seriously? What a pain that would be. I guess I'd better wrap my head around that because cars in the future will be like that. But not for many years.

One of these days, I'm going to post a few tips in case you're buying a new car. Let's just say that cars have changed!

I also learned about chia seeds. I put chia seeds on my oatmeal every morning, but did you know how healthy this food is?? It's a superfood. Good for weight loss, digestion, lowering blood sugar, high in fiber and much, much more. Actually, I put several things on my oatmeal in the morning, but did I think of premixing those items? Nope - well, I'm going to make up a mixture now and then I only have to scoop from one bag, not several. Thanks, Nancy!!!!

However, whatever you put on your oatmeal, it's a good idea to check the labels. When I took my first mouthful of oatmeal yesterday, I knew something was different. I checked the labels of the packages in the spice drawer. Oh dear.

I did NOT taste the cumin in my hamburger the previous night, but I sure tasted it in my oatmeal. Hey - those packages look IDENTICAL and so does the color of the spices. DH left it sitting on top and I normally check the label, just in case, but I did not. Oh well - it was interesting tasting oatmeal. I'm off to find myself a container for the cinnamon today which will then reside right beside the oatmeal.

Cumin and cinnamon look very much alike

Live and learn!!!!  DH asked what I did when I realized that I'd made a mistake. I ate it of course. It wasn't offensive - just different.

Not only was yesterday fun with friends and learning, but I got a lot accomplished. The sleeve got sewn on the POSH Santa sample and the samples were delivered as were several customer quilts and remember that stack of boxes in the basement? Well, I found a new home for the boxes. I didn't take the entire stack but got rid of a lot of the boxes. I did come home with four more customer quilts to add to the list. And something for Lexi which is still in the car. I just love the exchange of stuff that happens pretty much every Monday.

Besides the quilt sleeve, I finished the last block for the gingerbread quilt. That was HUGE. It's only taken me since January to get all the blocks completed. I'm slow and I didn't work on it every Monday as I wasn't there for all Mondays. Doesn't matter - the blocks are DONE.

The last block for the gingerbread quilt - DONE

I need to trim the applique blocks and then it's going to be put on the design wall and will be sewn on the Sit n Sew days later this month.

Time to figure out what else to take for handwork on Mondays. I could take my machine, but then the handwork will NEVER get done. This way, I'm "forced" to do the handwork.

I looked at my list of Dirty Dozen (some still not done from the 2017 and 2018 lists) to see what else is on the list that needs handwork or prepping that can be done on Monday. Hmm, there is Winter Wonderland - that is the redwork embroidery project. I think there are three blocks left to stitch. Here's the block that I'm currently working on. It's almost finished!!!!

Redwork embroidery block - almost done!

Then those blocks need to be trimmed and there's embroidery over the seams. That'll keep me busy for a while, but I need to find something else as it gets boring to do the same thing all day. I'm sure I'll find something that needs to be stitched or prepped. NO worries in that department.

I got another quilt quilted last night. This one belongs to my Mom. Yes - I've had it for several years. I didn't know what to do with it. I finally decided that an overall pattern would be just fine on it. She made the Dresden blocks from scraps of clothing fabric. Could have been her fabrics or more likely the scraps belonged to my grandmother. The background of the blocks is bleached sugar bags.

The quilt is done for my Mom

As I was loading it, I thought I could have done myself a favor and took the six blocks apart, squared up the blocks and then sewed it back together, but where's the fun in that? It was actually not bad except for one corner. Anyway, it's quilted.

I dug through my 30's fabric bin (which I could actually just walk right up to instead of navigating an obstacle course to get there) and found this blue floral for the binding. 

Fabric for the binding

Now the binding is made and ready to be attached later today. I need to call my Mom and get all the information so I can make a label. I think I'll be doing some hand stitching next week while I'm visiting. Labels and sleeves.

Binding is ready to be sewn on

As promised, here are the small projects that I finished the other day. These are for my classes in Saskatoon at The Sewing Machine Store. These two projects were designed (not by me) on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC using some of the builtin specialty stitches.

This is a little book bag that is very cleverly assembled - I had never thought of making a bag that way. Sorry - you have to take the class to find out the details!!! But it's very cute and I found those primary colors in my bright stash basket.

Bookbag

Here's a group of greeting cards. These are stitched directly onto card stock. Again, they use the specialty stitches that are builtin to the Designer EPIC. I still have to color parts of them with markers. They are very cute and you get to learn a lot about programming on the EPIC, sequin stitches, and a whole lot more.

Personalized greeting cards

Those samples are put to bed. I'll be working on more samples for the remainder of the week. As I start to pack, I'll share with you what goes in the suitcase - keeping in mind that it needs to weigh less than 50 pounds. That's going to be tricky. I have four quilts to take with me as well - all for family members and how the heck will I get that in my own suitcase and still have room for a few clothes. Oh yes - who said traveling is fun?

Now that I've got two sewing spaces, there are things that I like to have in both spaces - like a radio. I'm not about to purchase a new radio (do they still sell radios?) so I've been using my iPad as a radio in Studio B. I use the Radio Canada player app and it works like a charm. You can get many different radio stations on it - never any static. I LOVE it.

iPad used as a radio

And I could use Siri to help me find things if I needed. I'm trying to use Hey Google (on my phone) instead of typing. It seems to work pretty well. I use Alexa when I'm home. I'm pretty geeky!

I doubt, that I'll have much time before I leave to do more organizing. I'm OK with that. As I'm working down there, I'm trying to visualize what the next step will be and how I'm going to make some of the other stuff find a home.

Look at what else is in that stash room. There are FOUR HUGE tubs of Minky and fleece. Yep - how does one accumulate that much???  This is going to be moved to the large storage area where it'll become backings for community project quilts. That's just obscene.

Four tubs of Minky and fleece for quilt backings

 This is my current ender and leader project in Studio B. These are the triangles that are created when I make borders and do the join on the diagonal. I laid the triangles out and will match them up in pairs. From there, I'll make half-square triangles and then turn those half square triangles into hourglass blocks. I've got a basket filled with sewn ones, ready for the next step. But I want to finish these off first.

Triangles ready to be paired up and sewn

This bag of leaves has been sitting on the work tables for a while. Hmm - what to do with it? There are LOTS of leaves. The leaves are double-sided (made with Northcott Stonehenge Maplewood). You should check out the pictures of quilts on that link. I took them - some in my backyard, some in the forest behind my house. That was a fun day!!!!  The leaves were die cut. Any ideas what could be done with them???  Because they are double-sided, I don't think they would be good for applique, but they might be good for pillows. Anyone want them???  They are free if someone has a good idea for them. Hmm - they would be good for 3-D applique. Anyone want to make a large tree applique with 3-D leaves????

Double-sided maple leaves - up for grabs

We often hear people complain - of aches and pains or frustrations with family or friends or sewing or whatever. But how often do we hear people say LIFE IS GOOD?  Well - I just want to say that LIFE IS GOOD. While I'd like to have more stuff cleaned up, I finally feel like I have a handle on life. I'm learning to finish things, I'm learning to say no and I'm truly very content. LIFE IS GOOD - That's Bill Stearman's line, but I like it. Thanks, Bill.


On that note - I'm out of here. It looks like it's going to be rainy today. Shoot - I wanted to walk or ride my bike to the mall, but since I need to stock up on distilled water, it might be best to take the car. Can you see me carrying 6 jugs of distilled water home on my bike? I don't think so!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!