It's all about the jelly roll rugs

We had Sit n Sew yesterday. One of my favorite days of the month. Despite that fact, I was way over in my daily step count. Why? Well, it seems that I do a lot of walking when the group is over and not a whole lot of sewing. I help carry the sewing machines down the stairs and fetch things if someone forgot something. I've no idea why so many steps, but it was a wild day. One of my highest activity days in a while.

So I'm ahead on both challenges. The goal was to catch up before the end of January and that is accomplished as long as I can keep up with the daily minimum which shouldn't be a problem.

If you've been following along, you know that I have a special setup in the corner of Studio B just for making Jelly Roll Rugs. One of my sewing machines in the portable cabinet so the bed of the machine is flat with the tabletop and then two more tables, one behind the sewing machine and one at the side to support the rug as it expands. I'm not sure how many rugs have been made there now, but it's quite a few.

Rose finished another one yesterday. The strips came from a jelly roll that she had. This picture does NOT do justice to the brilliance of those strips. It's absolutely stunning and I think more than one of us wanted to keep it! It was perfectly flat!!

Rose's jelly roll rug

Matter of fact, she liked this color combo so much, Rose had purchased TWO jelly rolls. The rug above is her second rug. The other one, which she made last fall, started with the green in the middle and worked out to purple. What do they look like together?

We have a super cute model to show us the difference between the two rugs. Shoot - I don't remember the dog's name, but she is a cutie. I hope she's a cuddler cause you just want to snuggle your face in her gorgeous colored coat. And look at that face!! She's asking - "Is this one mine?" I think she's saying that she likes that one best!

Two jelly roll rugs

It's fascinating to see these two rugs. Made from identical jelly rolls. The one on the left was started with the purple on the inside and the one on the right was started with the green on the inside. While I like both, I'm liking the one on the left better. It would appear to have more contrast as well, although they use the same color of strips!

Liz brought a jelly roll and her batting and started the process of making the long ball of "string". The longest part of the process is getting that batting into the fabric strips. She made good progress. She's back on Sunday for another Sit n Sew day so just left her stuff downstairs ready to go on Sunday morning.

Liz's progress on her jelly roll rug

When I was doing some tidying up, I found TWO balls of cording that I had made to make two rugs. Oops - I forgot about those. Maybe I could sell them?

I didn't get pictures of what the others were doing, but everyone made good progress on their projects. The conversation was good, the company was good and we did get some sewing done.

Anyway, I made an attempt to clean some stuff up yesterday. I had a bucket of quilt tops that needed backings made. I had searched through the backings and found fabric for this quilt. The quilt top is on the left and the backing is on the right.

Quilt top and backing

Now the backing is made, the binding had been made before and the whole thing got moved to the "to be quilted" pile. I think that the square of green fabric is there in case I didn't make enough binding. I didn't bother to check, the extra fabric is there if needed. 

Quilt top, backing, and binding

Then I pulled another quilt off the pile. This is the quilt top.

Completed quilt top

The binding was already made for this one as well. DSo what stopped me from making a backing until now? Nothing! Well - except before the cleanup, it was NOT an easy job to find backing fabrics in the stash room.

Binding and the quilt top

Within seconds, I had located this piece of yardage and so very quickly got the backing sewn together.

BAcking fabric

So that's another quilt that gets moved to the "to be quilted" pile.

Quilt top, backing, and binding moved to the "to be quilted" pile

Oh - you think I made progress?? Well, I did - sort of. But there's still more tops that need borders, bindings, or backings. I'll get through it. I have confidence in myself and I could make a huge dent in that pile and maybe even get everything done if I scheduled one day to do it. I might consider that because it would clear up some stuff that's been sitting around.

I pulled one quilt top out of the bucket. I knew that it needed borders added on three sides. HOWEVER, the fabric to do that is NOT in the bucket. And this quilt is on my Dirty Dozen list for 2020. Hmm - where the heck is that fabric? I'll be scouring the stash room and the UFO boxes to find the darn project box. This is why we should NOT have UFOs. It takes a ton of time to manage them.

I trimmed several quilts and filed away the batting scraps and the excess backing. I managed to get the binding on one of the quilts.

Binding on a scrap quilt

Again, if I took ONE day and focused on the trimming and the bindings, I could clear that pile as well. I'll have to think about that one. In one way it's good to get it done in a day. On the opposite side of the coin, it can be boring to do the same thing all day long.

It was a totally chaotic day as we had Sit n Sew, the fireplace was serviced, the house was cleaned. And after all those people left, I had a very long conference call to participate in while I packed my suitcases for a trunk show on scrap quilts at the Brampton Quilt Guild. What a fun group of ladies! And great to see so many friends. Thanks for having me!!!! I had loads of fun as I recounted the stories behind the quilts.

Let's just say the conference call started on my phone, moved to the computer, back to the phone and ended while I was in the car. The wonders of technology! And I almost did it seamlessly. One small snag as I couldn't find the MUTE button to unmute myself. I know how to do it now.

I'm happy to report that I finished The Huntress by Kate Quinn. A very long book, but well worth the read. I've realized that we have to STOP talking about books on sewing days. The new one I started this morning was also recommended by someone at sewing and I got two new recommendations yesterday. I have a whole shelf of books of my own to read!!!  At least the new one is half the length of the one that I just finished. PHEW!!!

I might have to look into a new pair of headphones as well. Earlier this week at the gym, while on the treadmill, I tuned into HGTV. I know - watching TV which is NOT my thing. Well, after three days - I was bored to tears. The format of every show I watched was the same. A handyman (be that a plumber, a carpenter, or whatever trade) with a designer-ish wife. They would transform a house for a young, smiling couple. Seriously--- why do we have so MANY of the SAME shows. I won't go into details, but you sure wonder at the knowledge (or lack thereof) some of these people have.

I nixed the TV and started to listen to my audiobook. Way more interesting. However, my little earbuds don't drown out the sound of the music in the gym. I wonder if noise-canceling headphones would work better?? Those big over the ear things? We have a pair around the house - I'll have to check them out.

Thankfully the next two days are somewhat quiet. I do have a class to teach tonight, but no prep work required. Just grab a book and get in the car. But I have a lot of computer work and sewing/quilting work so it's going to head down all day.

Oh - and if you live near me - get outside and enjoy the weather. When I got ready to leave the house this morning, I realized that I did not have my wind pants on. I dug around in the dark in my gym bag and couldn't find them, although they are in there. Oh - it's not cold outside. So there I was at 5 AM outside in my gym shorts. It's NOT cold out.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The investigative quilter

I've had my computerized long arm for about a year. I had some issues last year and well, they're not quite fixed, but we're getting closer. And at least I know how to fix the issue now - sort of.

Things have been working fine for quite a while, but yesterday? Well - I had three problems on ONE row! Twice the computer stopped mid-pattern and just went crazy (not stitching and not with the needle in the quilt - thankfully). Both times, I was able to wiggle some wires and get back in business.

The third time, I had to change the bobbin and the computer wouldn't go back to the same spot to restart the pattern. ACK!!!  What to do? What to do?  I'm happy to report that I was able to manually get the computer back to the correct spot and no one would be the wiser that there were a few issues.

I'm going to go back to the support team with my new findings to see what they say. But all in all, I'm happy that I'm figuring out how to get back in business within minutes! It's all about a leap of faith!

I edited a whole pile of pictures yesterday and set them up in folders. Therefore, I've no idea what I was going to chat about today until I opened the folder!

The other day, I was on a roll. I got that orange rug together. I still have to finish off the ends. And wouldn't you know it, when I was looking in the drawer for something, I found a huge stash of bobbins. Shoot - I forgot those bobbins were there and yes - I found that bobbin with the orange thread that I needed to finish the rug.

My bobbin with the orange thread

I'm glad that I found it because it bugs me when I can't find things. Notice that it was in the right spot - I just didn't look there. I ended up using the bobbin for another project that I was making with orange fabric. More on that another day.

Anyway, I'm on a roll. After having investigated bags and bags of projects in the basement and hauled some of them upstairs, I want to get this huge mess under control. Many of these projects are close to being finished. What was I thinking?? It's almost like I'm unable to finish something. I can advance it and get it close, but I can't finish. Why is that? Did I have some traumatic experience? I laugh about it, but it's a serious issue!!! I'm overwhelmed and it's my stuff. Imagine if it were someone who didn't sew???? There will be NO buying new projects in this house. EVER or so it would seem.

As I was digging through the bucket of stuff for that orange rug, I came across this stack of blue fabric. The fabric had been put in the bucket with the premise of making a blue rug. I don't need one and I shouldn't be starting a new project, but I have all these batting strips cut so I NEED to make a new rug for that reason alone.

Blue fabric for a rug

So - I got busy and started cutting strips.

Cutting strips of fabric for a jelly roll rug

And here are my strips. The photo does not do justice to the blues. They are beautiful and left over from a Quilt Market project made with Northcott fabrics several years ago. The collection is called Nature Studies (Artisan Spirit). The color is Indigo.

Strips read for a jelly roll rug

I have a bucket full of batting strips that are cut to 2 ½". These came from the cutoff edges when trimming quilts. I have a HUGE garbage bag filled with batting that needs to be trimmed down. My guess is that I have enough strips to make two rugs once everything gets trimmed.

Bucket of batting strips

This is what's left over after I cut the strips for my rug. I don't want it. I could keep it for my new project for next year, but I already have a ton of stuff to work with. So - if anyone wants this - you're welcome to it. I would prefer to pass it to someone locally so it doesn't have to be mailed. The cost for mailing will likely be $20 - at least. There is a lot of the STRIP-R fabric - you can see that on the Northcott link that I included above. While there are some chunks of fabric, there are also some smaller pieces and strips. If no one wants it, it goes into my project pile for 2020. Remember - YOU pay the postage if you want it sent to you.

Leftover fabric

Speaking of losing things, I got a little worried yesterday. I was working on a quilt and basting the bottom edge in place before I did the final row. I ended up with a tuck and I needed to fix it so I got out my tools - my seam ripper and my forceps (for pulling threads). When I was finished, I couldn't find the darn seam ripper. Where the heck did it go?? It is caught in the quilt??? I searched and searched but couldn't find it anywhere. I checked the quilt NUMEROUS times. The seam ripper is NOT inside the quilt!!

A tuck that needs to be ripped out

After the job, the seam ripper was missing from the tool tray.

The forceps

 I went ahead and finished the quilt. Once I took the quilt off the machine, the seam ripper magically appeared. Of course! It must have been caught in the extra batting and the canvas leaders, but I checked there and couldn't find the darn thing.

The seam ripper!!!! OUTSIDE the quilt

I got a lot done yesterday and you'll see that later this week. I also did a lot of moving stuff and a lot of thinking about what to do with various things and how to get it all done. And with all the various jobs that I do, I'm trying to double up the reason for finishing a project. It works for me and works for the magazines that I submit to!!!  Speaking of which, I do have several more deadline quilts that need to be sewn, but those will have to wait until next week. This week, I've some quilting to do!

Oh - I see that Miss Lexi has blogged again this morning. Something about Murphy no doubt.

Seriously - when is it going to warm up?? It was too chilly to sit outside yesterday.

And even if you're not a cyclist, you have to watch this video. It's hilarious. I LOVE Danny Macaskill. He is a super cyclist.

On that note, have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

A quilter quilting quilts

That's me - a quilter quilting quilts.

Our language is pretty weird. By using the word quilt and adding three different endings, I have two different nouns and a verb. And it makes a sentence! I'd have to say that my grammar has vastly improved since I spend so much time writing. I use Grammarly which is an add-in that you can load for free and it'll check your spelling and grammar. It's a love/hate relationship I have with that software. It's good, but frustrating at the same time. And then once a week, they send you an e-mail with some stats.

Here's mine from last week.

Advanced Errors

So while this software is a good thing and it does catch a lot of errors, you see that BIG yellow box. I have 1,275 ADVANCED errors. What's an advanced error?? Is that huge? I've no idea. I want to see an example. Not possible. And one of the annoying things is that sometimes, the program will highlight an error when I'm not even finished the sentence. No wonder, there are missing periods!

The version that I use is free. I want EXAMPLES of what those advanced mistakes are before I would even think of coughing up money to pay for the upgrade. Did you see how they sandwich the"bad news" (the number of mistakes) in between the "good stuff"?  You are more productive than 98% of Grammarly users. What exactly does that mean? Who are the Grammarly users? There must be a ton of people who have downloaded the software and never write. Or use it to check their e-mails. Then look at the last category. I use more unique words than 97% of the users. Again - who are those users???  But it's the middle category where I'm "failing". I am only 45% more accurate than the rest of the users.

Anyway, if you check this chart online, you can see what the paid version will give you. It's not so much about spelling and grammar, but run on sentences, and overused words, etc. It would probably tell me that I shouldn't use so many exclamation marks. I guess, if I really wanted to be an excellent writer, I'd pay for that software. But I'm good!

What does that mean???  The few other people that use the software are almost perfect! So you better buy the upgrade so you can improve this stat!!! I hate that kind of under the radar marketing tactic! No worries, I like the software as is and if there are glaring grammatical errors - so be it!!!


Anyway, I have been doing a bit of quilting behind the scenes. I just haven't posted the pictures. So here are some quilts that I recently finished.

Customer quilt - done

This next one is fun as it's my pattern!!!  That's cool. Here's a link to the pattern. 

Customer quilt - done

And another one. I did help a wee bit with the design process of this one.

Customer quilt - done

And the last one for today is this one. This is the front.

Customer quilt - done

 But have a look at the back! It's a very modern quilt!  Great way to use up leftovers!

The back of the customer quilt

I plan to get heads down on the long arm over the next two weeks and get completely caught up! There's not much left in the queue and would be good to get all that out of the way before summer hits. I can hear that gazebo calling my name!!!  The next one is already loaded and maybe later today? If not, then tomorrow.

Last night, I decided it was time to get myself in gear and get something done. So I worked on this.

My rectangular rug

Yes - that is MY rectangular rug. The tubes were all made and it was half together. Time to stop messing around and finish the darn thing. I couldn't find the bobbin that I had been using and I wasn't sure I was going to have enough thread left on the spool, but I wound a bobbin and plunged ahead. In a matter of about one hour, the rug was together. DUH!!!  Why do I do that to myself and leave these almost completed projects???

I dug through the bucket and found two strips that had been set aside to bind the short ends. I might get that done today!!!  Did you notice that the rug is more or less symmetrical in the coloring??

Fabric to bind the ends of the rug

I see there's a ton of blue fabric in that bin, along with a whole pile of batting strips. I have a sewing day planned today. Hmm - should I be working on that? No - I shouldn't but it would be a great mindless task. Then I found something last night that I could work on today. Should I be doing that?

Well, I'll get some stuff done and you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see what I did.

I had a terrible sleep last night. I woke up around 2 PM with my big toe joint tingling. What???? It didn't hurt, but I was so restless. After lying in bed for an hour, I got up and took some Advil. That dulled the tingling and I went back to sleep. But I slept in and even then, I was a total zombie when I got up. That rarely happens to me, but I'm better now. I wonder what that toe tingling thing was all about?  Oh well - it's not swollen and it's fine now. All I could think of was gout? But nothing serious.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

It's all about the rugs!

Earlier this week, I was in Lindsay doing an all-day workshop with the Lindsay Creative Quilters Guild. It was loads of fun and what a CREATIVE group of quilters. By the way - their quilt show is NEXT WEEKEND - May 24 and 25.

What did we do in the workshop? We started off with a two-hour lecture on binding a quilt by machine. I know - that sounds excessive, but I filled those two hours with loads of examples and techniques on perfecting the process of binding a quilt by machine.

Then we were onto making rugs! The jelly roll rug to be exact. I'm hoping that I snapped a photo of everyone's colors - what fun to see what others come up with for their rug.

There are three different shapes of the rugs - the original oval, the rectangular one, and the more recent circular. The group got to choose between the oval or the rectangular one. If any of you have made one of these rugs, you know that it can be challenging and technically you make your big ball of "yarn" and then sew it together. Let's just say that we got very creative in how the rugs went together.

This is what happened...............

Here is my oval rug that I made a while back. I technically haven't used it as it has been at a store since I finished it. Here's the link to my blog post when I made this one.

Oval jelly roll rug

I gave the remainder of that fabric collection to a fellow quilter. I heard from her the other day that she is going to start a Dear Jane with it!!! I can't wait to see the blocks!!!!

This is half of my rectangular jelly roll rug. Here's my blog post when I worked on this one. I think the leftovers from this one are still in the bucket. Because it's orange, it's unlikely that that fabric will be up for grabs! All the tubes are made and I really must get the darn thing done. Maybe on Friday when I have a sew day???

My rectangular jelly roll rug - oops make that HALF of my rug

I didn't get the names of everyone in the class so no names. So sorry Lindsay quilters!!!  We have to remember that not everyone works at the same pace. I'm good with that. I always teach to each person's speed, rather than have the rest of the class waiting. And because we were working on two different styles and different methods within the styles - the end results are quite varied!

This rug is made from Kansas Troubles strips. I do believe it was a jelly roll. She's going to alternate the lights and darks. A couple of strips of lights and a couple of strips of darks. It's going to be oval.

Some of the tubing made for an oval jelly roll rug

Next up, we have a very smart person! She used FLANNEL for her strips. She had scraps of flannel at home and is going to make a mat for her cat. It's going to be square or rectangular so each width of fabric yielded two tubes. This is such a great idea. I wonder if Murphy would like this???

Tubes made from flannel

This next one was also from a jelly roll. The colors are GORGEOUS!!!!  The strips got joined together during the day.

Gorgeous colors

The next one is going to be a rectangular rug and a number of strips got made. Very pretty colors and I light the variety of the lights, mediums, and darks.

Nice colors and good value contrast

How about a little glitz in your jelly roll rug? All of these fabrics have some glitz on them. It's going to be a rectangular rug and looks pretty spiffy!!

Glitzy strips

The fabric for this rug was purchased a number of years ago. She was going to make a chenille rug. That never happened so now it's going to be a jelly roll rug. The fabric we're talking about is the one with the flowers on it. And then every second strip is something that matches. I LOVE this idea. Matter of fact, I have a huge hunk of fabric that I had bought to make into a chenille rug! I might just dig it out! This rug is going to be rectangular.

Soft pastels 

 Batiks also make perfect rugs!!  This one is going to be amazing!!  She is going to make the oval rug and focused on getting the batting into her strips.

Starting the big ball of "yarn:

Here's the center part of an oval rug. Those darn corners at the beginning are so tricky!! But this is looking great and the colors get progressively darker as the rug moves to the outside.

Good start for the oval rug

Here's another rectangular rug. This one is made from Christmas fabric. How cool is that! It's hard to see, but she's using three different colors of thread on the rug. I love it!!!

Christmas fabric

Doesn't this scream spring? It's so pretty. I'm don't do pretty, but I love this one. It's fresh - maybe that's why I like it. Anyway, the center is done. That's the worst part. The rest is easy!!!!

Another center - done!!!

Next up is a rug made with solids. I know - who would have thought! This is going to be an oval rug and starts off with those hot colors in the center and moves to the darker colors as the rug gets bigger.
She was focusing on making the tubes in class.

Bright solids cover the rainbow

 And then there's one in every class! She was just zipping along and the rug is gorgeous!!!!  It's also made with solids, but all different shades of green. Very clever!!!!

Great progress made on the rug

Yes - that's it. There were 12 in the class. OK - I'm sending a note to Pam, the coordinator. If anyone finishes their rug, I want to post the pictures!!!!  Isn't that awesome! It really was a fun day. Thanks to the Lindsay Creative Quilters Guild for hosting me!!!


OH -- I forgot to mention that the binding lecture was in the morning. Some people came just for that. In the afternoon, we got a text from one of the quilters who had been there that morning. She tried one of the tips and it worked like a charm!!!  How's that for putting new knowledge to work right away!!!!

This has never happened in our house for a very, very long time. Look at that upstairs hallway. It's bare - it's empty. This is how it would look if the house were going to be sold which it is NOT. It echos and it's nasty!!!

The empty hallway

And if DH is following my blog while he's away, he's probably wondering what the heck I did with all those quilts.  Oh - I'm going to let him wonder. But have a look at this quilt storage option. Thanks to Linda for sharing that link. Hmm - I do have the room. Do I have the nerve?????

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. I got my block finished for our block exchange. I'll be dropping it off later today. I'm all caught up until I get the next block at the end of the month. Only three more blocks to go and we'll be done. The idea is to exchange them at our retreat in November. That way if anyone is behind, they have a wee bit of time to catch up. But I think everyone has pretty much kept up. I love working on these quilts. The key is to remember to NOT take on several at one time. That's way too much. One per year I can handle.

Oh - I see Lexi has posted something on her blog today as well.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Zipping along..........

Yesterday was certainly a very productive day, but I had such a crappy sleep last night that I'm not sure I can be as productive today. I hate when that happens. My sinuses caused some of the problems and then my throat was dry and then I had to get up for a bathroom visit. Just one of those nights. If I need a nap today, well, that's OK.

I did make it back to the grocery store and asked about my missing almond milk. Yep - they had it recorded that some idiot customer flew out of the store and left the milk on the counter. And then I still had to go back later because I had forgotten to buy cranberries and you can't have Thanksgiving dinner without cranberries!

I had to start the day by tidying up some stuff so that felt good. A lot got put away in their respective homes and the rest is still sitting there waiting to be finished. These are items that are nowhere near getting on the finishing list, but no place to store them either.

In case anyone wonders if people use mug rugs? I do. Thanks to Katheleen for this one. I had a hot chocolate (the light version with reduced sugar). I don't want that hot cup sitting directly on my cutting mat and besides, the cup was wet on the bottom. Problem solved with the mug rug!! These make FABULOUS (and personalized) Christmas gifts. You can never have too many mug rugs!

Mug rug in use

Not content to have one sewing machine going, I had two. One was set up to join strips of batting...

Joining strips of batting

 And the other one was set up to make fabric tubes from batting and fabric strips.

Making fabric tubes

 I started out with this mess - 40 fabric strips and a whack of batting strips that I had cut from the leftovers after trimming quilts.

Fabric strips and batting strips

 Of course, I could have taken the easy way out and purchased a roll of this batting but I only have one roll and that's not enough and I like to use up leftovers so I'm good to cut those strips from the batting. Yep - I mixed black and white and various weights and thicknesses. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's going to make a huge difference.

Prepared roll of batting

I'm trying to use up! I had four pieces of orange and once I had cut my 40 strips, I had this piece of orange leftover. Since it was all that remained of the collection, I decided to cut it up into strips as well. I got 8 more strips for a total of 48.

The last piece of this fabric collection got cut up

 In case you're wondering, this is the Orange colorway of the Northcott Artisan Spirit Nature Studies. I used the teal colorway (of the same collection) in that rug that I made a couple of weeks ago. It's very pretty, but what the heck was I going to do with it. I'm not sure I have enough of the teal left to make a complete rug - anyone interested in the leftovers? You can find something to go with it or you can always buy more of this collections as I saw it on on the internet. Do a Google search.  E-mail me if you want it - I'll try to post a picture of what's leftover. I don't want it.

This is what I had leftover for batting after making my 40 fabric tubes and since I had that one piece of fabric left, I decided to go ahead and make those extra 8 fabric tubes.

Leftover batting

 And I have this piece leftover as well, which is going to be the binding. There were a few scraps but those got put away in the scrap bucket. I love it when I can "file" everything away or use it up.

The binding fabric

 Here's what I had at the end of the day. 48 fabric tubes. Now you have to wait to see what I do with them. I've already started, but I'm not going to share that with you until it's completed.

48 fabric tubes

This is how many batting strips remained after I had made the 48 fabric tubes. Still quite a few. It's now in the bin with the remainder of the teal colorway of Nature Studies (that I'm getting rid of!) as well as the blue colorway. My goal - use all of the Nature Studies UP!!!

Batting strips leftover

No worries, I still have another bag of batting strips to go through and cut into 2 ½" strips. I'm thinking that I'm going to have enough to make two more rugs. Which is good - maybe that'll use up all that fabric in the bucket.

Bag of batting to be sorted through

In the future, I plan to keep the bag of batting under control. As I trim a quilt, I'll cut the 2 ½" strips and the pieces that are too narrow will go into pet mats.

When I got bored of working on that project, I decided it was time for another finish. I had to sew the binding onto the front of this wall hanging. I also hand stitched the corners of the binding as well as made a sleeve which is also hand stitched in place. This is finish number 59!  I wonder where Diane is with her finishes? I know she was away last week but it wouldn't surprise me that she found a way to finish something.

Floral wall hanging

 I put my usual little fabric label on this one, but it will also be a sample when I wear my educator (Husqvarna Viking) hat, so I labeled it to death. Since I had stitched out the embroidery and all the piecing and quilting were done as blog posts for QUILTsocial, I took advantage of that and included all that information, including the links on the label.

Now that's a quilt label!

I had one more label like this make so I made it at the same time and they both turned out awesome.

I got a quilt loaded on the long arm so I'll be working on that today and hopefully, it'll be completed by tomorrow. It's a big one and some custom work on it so I can't set the machine and leave it. But I know with my sinus issue that I don't want to work on it all day.

I managed to get a couple of things written in my TO DO book, but not all. If I don't get myself together, I'll start to forget things so that is going to take priority this morning.

And I have a couple more projects that are very close to being finished. I have to maintain pace with Diane!!!  I might work on a binding or two this afternoon for a change of pace.

Oh before I leave, I have to share two more New Orleans links with you. They are creepy so if you're not into that kind of thing - DO NOT go to them. I'm not kidding but I seem to be fascinated with this stuff. I'm just weird - totally fascinated yet scared to death at the same time. Now, why is that? And do not say that my sleep issues are related to the creepy New Orleans ghosts. I don't buy that.

The first is about the house that was used in the movie? TV series? American Horror Story. It's about the LaLaurie Mansion. We heard the same story from our tour guide - does that make it right? No idea, but the place is now owned by someone from Texas and the place is rarely used which is a shame since it looks like a gorgeous place from the outside. The house was owned by Nicolas Cage at one point. It's huge (20,000 sq feet) although it doesn't look like it, I guess they are counting all the back part of the house which was likely the servant's quarters. Well so to speak.

It's amazing how you can look for something and not find it. But the short video above referenced a book and I searched for that and came up with a whole pile of other books of hauntings in New Orleans. Now I can search for those. I know - I'm morbid. Now I want to go back and tour the cemeteries. THAT would give me sleeping issues. They are super creepy!

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!