Blogger gone crazy...& an update on the Christmas quilt

Seems I published my last post 3 times!?! I hit publish and it went to a blank post, going to dashboard it showed my post as draft so I went in and hit Publish again same result. So I closed then went back in -- still at draft. Repeated the process a 3rd time. After that final publish where it finally took me back to dashboard after publish it showed 3 publishes of the same post. Gahhhh... so if you saw my post mulitple times last weekend I do apologize.

I didn't get my Christmas quilt sandwiched during the week as I hoped. Saturday was a lot of running around, Sunday morning cleaning while Chris did the groceries. I finally brought the backing, batting and top downstairs Sunday afternoon and got it done using spray adhesive then pinned. I have some leftover backing that I will have to make a mini quilt for the dogs with. As soon as I layed it down the dogs were all over it. I don't blame them the backing is incredibly soft.  I had thought about how I was going to quilt it while watching season 2 marathon of The Fall on Netflix. I think I'm going to start by an all over stitch in the ditch and go from there. I may make the mini quilt first, quilt it and see how it looks from the back before start in on the lap quilt. As you can see in the picture there are two identical blocks side by side. The only rule I set for myself on block placement was no two blocks the same side by side. I didn't catch it until I uploaded this picture. Don't you love the flash glaring off the pin -the joys of flash photography using your cell.

What I learned this week from other peoples posts: Stitch in the ditch is actually stitching in the ditch created from pressing to the side. I thought it meant stitching directly over your seam. There was a huge discussion about it on one of the groups I follow on Facebook. As expected there was some differing of opinions which caused the post to be closed to further comments to end the nastiness that had started. The explanation was that stitching directly on your seams can split the thread and weaken the seam but beside the seam strengthens. A few that sew directly on the seam brought up a few other well known quilters that teach to sew on the seam but it was pointed out they all press seams open which changes the rule. This is where I got confused - wouldn't that also cause weakness to your thread and therefore seam?

Honestly, when I'm quilting stitch in the ditch 1/4 end up on the seam, then others one side or the other... and lastly, the ones that end up no where near the seam so that would make me doing it right about 1/4 of the time no matter how you look at it. To loosely paraphrase the admin of the group her final thought was: do what you feel is right and if you sew on the seam and never had an issue keep on keeping on.

Radio silence and a finished top

My blog has been greatly neglected... which indicates how my sewing progess has been going. I've picked at things here and there but not enough to start some momentum. Excuses, well I can come up with a hundred. All valid, but when push comes to shove they are just that - Excuses. This year is speeding through and I have only one full finish so far. I'm all over the place and I jump from one project to the next before completing anything. I was itching to work on something easy but I had so many wip's and ufo's that its hard to justify starting another project. What to do?

The good thing is while I haven't done much of anything, I also hadn't been hitting the fabric stores to add to my fabric hoard. I've discovered my fabric tastes change constantly so unless I need something to complete a current project or I'm going to start a project immediately I'm going to refrain from visiting stores & online shops. Now that I said that, you know a bunch of fabric lines that I will fall instantly in love with are going to start popping up in my social feeds...

Last weekend I took a hard look at what was on my design wall it all seemed too fussy for my poor cluttered brain. Honestly, I can't take anything more intricate right now than strips for a log cabin, rail fence or maybe a rag quilt. With that honest self evaluation the decision was made. That jelly roll from last Christmas is exactly what the sanity police ordered.

I added in the elf material because I just love it. I started by cutting all the strips in 6.5 lengths and a white jelly roll into 2.5 squares. Simple chain piecing sewing one white to one of the Christmas stack.

It didn't take long to get a fair number done, from there combing two strips together then 4.... and voila! Can you believe it? While I know many can fully complete an easy quilt like this in less than a day, it took me about 20 hours from start to finish. I have to say I didn't stress making this one, I just enjoyed the process. I thought it may not be 'Christmassy' enough but my husband thinks it looks like wrapping paper. lol i'll take that as a win and started thinking of this one as All wrapped up..

With the top done I realized I didn't have anything for backing so went to the local fabric shop this afternoon for the first time in months and bought 2 meters of chenille and discovered it was a 40-50 % off everything sale weekend. I stopped myself from looking at anything else and only bought what I went in for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love chenille/minky backs on my quilts I think it makes them a bit more cuddly. So far I've made nothing larger than a lap quilt so I really don't have the worry of extra weight and living in Ontario the warmer the better in winter months. Picture was taken after dark, it's actually more turquoise and matches the colour in the top.

I hope to get this sandwiched and start quilting it by the weekend! Thinking simple quilting and red binding but we'll see once it's all quilted. I haven't been this excited to finish a quilt in a long while!

Radio silence and a finished top

My blog has been greatly neglected... which indicates how my sewing progess has been going. I've picked at things here and there but not enough to start some momentum. Excuses, well I can come up with a hundred. All valid, but when push comes to shove they are just that - Excuses. This year is speeding through and I have only one full finish so far. I'm all over the place and I jump from one project to the next before completing anything. I was itching to work on something easy but I had so many wip's and ufo's that its hard to justify starting another project. What to do?

The good thing is while I haven't done much of anything, I also hadn't been hitting the fabric stores to add to my fabric hoard. I've discovered my fabric tastes change constantly so unless I need something to complete a current project or I'm going to start a project immediately I'm going to refrain from visiting stores & online shops. Now that I said that, you know a bunch of fabric lines that I will fall instantly in love with are going to start popping up in my social feeds...

Last weekend I took a hard look at what was on my design wall it all seemed too fussy for my poor cluttered brain. Honestly, I can't take anything more intricate right now than strips for a log cabin, rail fence or maybe a rag quilt. With that honest self evaluation the decision was made. That jelly roll from last Christmas is exactly what the sanity police ordered.

I added in the elf material because I just love it. I started by cutting all the strips in 6.5 lengths and a white jelly roll into 2.5 squares. Simple chain piecing sewing one white to one of the Christmas stack.

It didn't take long to get a fair number done, from there combing two strips together then 4.... and voila! Can you believe it? While I know many can fully complete an easy quilt like this in less than a day, it took me about 20 hours from start to finish. I have to say I didn't stress making this one, I just enjoyed the process. I thought it may not be 'Christmassy' enough but my husband thinks it looks like wrapping paper. lol i'll take that as a win and started thinking of this one as All wrapped up..

With the top done I realized I didn't have anything for backing so went to the local fabric shop this afternoon for the first time in months and bought 2 meters of chenille and discovered it was a 40-50 % off everything sale weekend. I stopped myself from looking at anything else and only bought what I went in for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love chenille/minky backs on my quilts I think it makes them a bit more cuddly. So far I've made nothing larger than a lap quilt so I really don't have the worry of extra weight and living in Ontario the warmer the better in winter months. Picture was taken after dark, it's actually more turquoise and matches the colour in the top.

I hope to get this sandwiched and start quilting it by the weekend! Thinking simple quilting and red binding but we'll see once it's all quilted. I haven't been this excited to finish a quilt in a long while!

Radio silence and a finished top

My blog has been greatly neglected... which indicates how my sewing progess has been going. I've picked at things here and there but not enough to start some momentum. Excuses, well I can come up with a hundred. All valid, but when push comes to shove they are just that - Excuses. This year is speeding through and I have only one full finish so far. I'm all over the place and I jump from one project to the next before completing anything. I was itching to work on something easy but I had so many wip's and ufo's that its hard to justify starting another project. What to do?

The good thing is while I haven't done much of anything, I also haven't been hitting the fabric stores to add to my fabric hoard. I've discovered my fabric tastes change constantly so unless I need something to complete a current project or I'm going to start a project immediately I'm going to refrain from visiting stores & online shops. Now that I said that, you know a bunch of fabric lines that I will fall instantly in love with are going to start popping up in my social feeds...

Last weekend I took a hard look at what was on my design wall it all seemed too fussy for my poor cluttered brain. Honestly, I can't take anything more intricate right now than strips for a log cabin, rail fence or maybe a rag quilt. With that honest self evaluation the decision was made. That jelly roll from last Christmas is exactly what the sanity police ordered.

I added in the elf material because I just love it. I started by cutting all the strips in 6.5 lengths and a white jelly roll into 2.5 squares. Simple chain piecing sewing one white to one of the Christmas stack.

It didn't take long to get a fair number done, from there combing two strips together then 4.... and voila! Can you believe it? While I know many can fully complete an easy quilt like this in less than a day, it took me about 20 hours from start to finish. I have to say I didn't stress making this one, I just enjoyed the process. I thought it may not be 'Christmassy' enough but my husband thinks it looks like wrapping paper. lol i'll take that as a win!

With the top done I realized I didn't have anything for backing so went to the local fabric shop this afternoon for the first time in months and bought 2 meters of chenille and discovered it was a 40-50 % off everything sale weekend. I stopped myself from looking at anything else and only bought what I went in for.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I love chenille/minky backs on my quilts I think it makes them a bit more cuddly. So far I've made nothing larger than a lap quilt so I really don't have the worry of extra weight and living in Ontario the warmer the better in winter months. Picture was taken after dark, it's actually more turquoise and matches the colour in the top.

I hope to get this sandwiched and start quilting it by the weekend! Thinking simple quilting and red binding but we'll see once it's all quilted. I haven't been this excited to finish a quilt in a long while!

August the month that kept on giving ...antibiotics?!?

Normally, I hate to see September arrive as it brings with it the end summer which is my favorite season. This year is another story... August couldn't be over fast enough! It gave us a run of nothing but health issues. I started the month with a head cold that turned into Bronchitis and a sinus infection. 10 days of antibiotics cleared me up then Chris lands in the hospital with a perforated colon from diverticulitis. Thankfully he responded to high doses of anitbiotics and was released after 5 days and was off work for another week. His work is very physical and with 13 hour shifts I won't say it's been an easy road the past weeks but at this point I don't think he'll need surgery. He has a follow up with the surgeon this week, hopefully with the major dietary changes that have happened while he's healing then once healed high fiber lifestyle minus nuts/seeds or corn/popcorn for him will be enough to prevent another bout.

My day job has been more insane than usual but since Chris being discharged we've been walking in the evenings which is really helping me shake off the stresses of the day.

On the sewing front not a lot to report but and I almost have the top of the surprise quilt done after a power session over the long weekend. Hopefully I will get it finished next weekend.

Most of our spare time has been spent looking at the house with a critical eye and discussing how to make our house work bether for us. The want list is high and many are on the someday plan but a few have made it to first priority list. More on that when the ideas are more than a planning phase.

Hopefully next post will be full of quilted goodness

Tales from a slacker

My title pretty much sums up my last month. During the workday, I look longingly at my sewing machine and never make my way back after dinner. My days off, I couldn't get my butt up to my sewing room. This week has been the exception....

My husband put a project on my plate (probably to motivate me). I'd post more but it's a gift and he keeps telling people to check my blog. With my luck that one person would see the post. He even bought a fat quarter bundle online last week which arrived Thursday.  The fabric is bit dark so on Saturday afternoon I bought some orange for the background to brighten it up. Again, this quilt has stars (not really a big surprise I love stars!).

Also getting me going was starting an fmq sampler. A few months ago I joined the facebook sit down free motion quilters group, I hadn't done any of the exercises but enjoyed looking at what everyone posts. A bunch of new followers got together to do the sampler that was first released when the group was created. This all happened Tuesday and I responded I'd do it as well, I check the post around 8pm Wednesday and apparently it started that day. I got my whole clothcut sandwiched, printed off the work sheets to build muscle memory and worked those for a few days. I finally got ready on Saturday and I'm pretty pleased how it turned out. A bit shakey in areas and some holes but overall not bad for my first attempt. More importantly I'm looking forward to the next lesson!

Lastly, just a quick kid brag moment. My youngest graduates from high school at the end of June. She finished her self directed classes early so she has 2 spares out of 4 classes for the rest of this semester. Long story short she asked the art teacher if she could do a painting just to burn time until her last class of the day started. To the left is the result of that few hours.

Busy busy busy

It's been awhile since my last post. My new sewing room/office has had a bit of jigging, hutch moved out second design area put up and a new to me sewing machine has moved in.  

Mom has been holding on to her mothers sewing machine for over 30 years and decided it was a shame for it to be unused. My Grannie Jean bought this machine in the 60's brand new and was her pride and joy.  Its a Singer touch and sew model 600. She was self taught sewer, knitter, crocheter. She made most of their clothes (8 kids) and was an incredible smocker. All the pieces are in the accessory box and in a cabinet she bought for this machine with knee control. The stool is a trasure trove sewing box full of needle, pickers, pins, thread, etc with a few things added by my mom over the years . This machine needs some minor TLC (oiling, cleaning) but is in fabulous shape considering it's been sitting since her death in '83.

Sewing box 

This Thursday (May 19th) would have been her 102 birthday.  She was an incredible woman and I think of her everytime I see this machine. I am very lucky to have received this incredible machine

I have made some progress on M's Petal patch quilt and my leaders/enders project. More on that next  post!

Sewing room relocation part 2 with pictures

As I mentioned last post, my sewing room prep was finished by Thursday and after work Friday we kicked into high gear to get my stuff upstairs. I had high hopes that I'd be able to fold and organize as I set up, but that was too slow with so much to move. So it was more of a whirlwind of activity of grab and stuff. By 8pm we were fizzled but we had most of big items in the new space. Pictured Chris and his constant entourage.

Friday night

Saturday morning we were back at it. As we went,  Chris suggested some changes to the arrangement of furniture - design wall covering the closet, pfaff moved between the shelves, hutch on opposite wall. The minute it was out of his mouth I could picture it because we'd pushed the pfaff against the shelves Friday night to keep the room free as we brought more up and the having that extra space kept the room feeling spacious. Saturday night I put M's Petal Patch quilt on the design wall and am feeling inspired to get working on this again. I'm really spoiled to have this space!

Tested my Internet, hardwired I got 145 mbps (megabits per second) download 11.5 mbps upload and in my new room which I currently can only use wifi... 60 mbps download and 10.5 mbps upload. Still pretty nice speeds, we will be figuring out how to get a LAN cable up from the basement to the room, but in the meantime I'll be roughing it LOL there's a prime example of a first world problem. Can you believe dial up was 56 kbps (kilobits per second) and until we became hispeed junkies that was awesome!?! I decided to try putting my monitors on the high shelf - previously my desk was switched docking station was under the shelf and monitors on the single desk. I also got rid of the keyboard tray and raised my chair. It's an easy switch back if I don't like it.

MT left his 21 inch tv, he bought a 4k 50" tv that was on sale for half price. I decided that it was all I need for my room. We attached a chromecast, connected Netflix and called it done. Chris thinks we need a a larger tv but thats not high on my priority list. On the same shelf are my Georges. I might have mentioned before I love monkeys, but I'm especially partial to Curious George receiving my first George at 4 when I went to the hospital for the first time. The three closest to the tv represent a time when I needed strength/comforting and we're given to me by my mom. The little one was the first gift my youngest R bought for me on her own - she found him at a garage sale and brought him home. The angry birds the furbabies found in the back of the closet and they thought it made a great chew toy.  That needs to go in Mt's treasure box.

My cold is at its worst today, I'm completely exhausted. My room is done and I really want to sew but I can't find the energy to cut fabric. I thought about working on hexies but I have a whack of 2.5 squares that I'm using for leaders and enders. I set my iron up right beside my sewing machine and I'm hoping these will help scratch the itch

Sewing room relocation

With MT leaving the nest, his room was up for grabs. Our home was built as a 3 bedroom with bonus family room on the upper floor. It was perfect for our large family. Originally this room was shared by the girls, Mt had the smallest room & CJ and B shared the other when they came over every second weekend. As needs changed, the 3 that lived here full time were moved into their own rooms and the basement was finished for the boys. MT grudgingly took the largest room because both girls felt it was too big. This 16 x 19 foot room is over the garage and has big windows that let's in a lot of natural light during the day. (Picture below was taken around 8:30 pm so lighting is yellowed )

One major item I want but just can't do at this time is put in hardwood flooring. So here is the plan -  as mentioned before we did a complete paint job & steam cleaned the carpet. Once carpet was dry we put up shelving on one wall. The other wall is going to be a design wall, my primary machines will be in the middle of the room and my cutting table in one corner with some shelving mounted above.

Here's where we were waffling - should I move my office upstairs and what to about lighting. Moving my office would really make my days brighter with all the natural light and I could even sit facing the window, but it's going to eat up real estate lol. This room has its own hallway leading into the room, so Chris suggested making my design wall smaller & using the hall walls for additional design walls (seeing I always have multiple projects on the go) then I can switch them out as wanted. This should give me space for my office. For lighting, he is thinking multiple overheads across the cathederal ceiling that daisy chain to the light switch.

This weekend we move everything up and find a solution for my Internet. For work I prefer to be hardwired, we have some spotty areas in the house and this room seems to be the worst. There must be something in the walls interrupting the signal ??

Unfortunately, I've been popping Advil cold and sinus pills since this morning. I have a cold starting and I'm fighting tooth and nail not to let it kick my but but I know the minute the med start wearing off and it's not pretty. Fingers crossed I can keep going because I'm hoping to have everything done by Sunday so I can get sewing :)

Mt's Big Move

Well, the big move is done. It was harder than I ever realized it would be to leave without him. Chris had taken the truck back around 1. My dad and I stayed to finish up - Dad and Mt putting furniture together and me washing & setting up the kitchen.

When we were all done my dad turned to Mt and said ready to go? After a second or two of silence we all had a quiet laugh. For weeks we'd been focused on this day and had spent all day unpacking Mt and in that moment reality hit. From our front door to Mt's aptartment is only a 20 minute drive, but pulling away felt like he lived much further.

Mom called me shortly after dad got home and we made arrangements to take Martin out today (Sunday) to continue our search for curtains. We started off at Ikea and picked up a few things like dish rack,  plastic mat to go under computer chair but no luck on curtains. Off to Walmart, we did find curtains in colours that would work in his apartment but no ceiling mounts.

My Dad thought about a drapery store he saw in one the malls near by. We found the hardware we needed but boy they were expensive. Back to his apartment he and dad installed the curtains while mom and I did some dishes and small things. It was hard leaving again but we've left him in a really great place so I'm trying to stay focused on that.

Chris took advantage of the cold day and started working on my sewing room. He got the pin holes filled (my kids really love tacking stuff all over their walls), walls wiped down and had just started painting when I got home. By 7:30 he finished the entire first coat.

I washed the windows and scrapped the Crayola window clingers off the windows. Those were originally put up by the girls years ago. We did try taking them off at one point when Martin moved into the room but we didn't get very far - they had baked on and I was concerned I'd break the window so we left them to deal with another time and forgot abut them. Chris looked through his tools and found a razorblade scraper. It took over an hour of scrapping to get those sucker's off. It must have been loud outside, everyone who walked by looked up and waved. LOL I think they thought I was banging to get their attention. As you can see, we still have a few things to clear out of the room. Chris has some touch ups and wants to start the trim after work tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll be able to steam clean the rug Wednesday night. If things keep moving, we might be able to start moving stuff up next weekend!

Hope every has a great week!

Well that was a waste

I am no further along on Mt's quilt than last post despite being off last Friday through Tuesday. Last Saturday I did chores and running around, then all the kids were home for pizza and blueberry birthday cake for Chris (blueberry is his favourite). Tuesday Mt booked the day off work, inspected the apartment and got the key. My dad and I helped him move in his boxes (books and kitchen stuff) and a few tables for the living room. We went out with mom to pick up some things we missed and looked for curtains after dinner. This Saturday is his official move out day when we move the big things bed, couch, computer, excetera. Chris is off work so I doubt I'll have to do much heavy lifting. I'm really excited for him and trying to supress all other emotions I'm having.

Mt's kitchen

Thank goodness Mt laughed when I told him his quilt wasn't going to be ready. He's not too concerned seeing he plans to bring his laundry home regularily. He's not impressed with the thought of $5 per load to use the facilities in his building. He has also extended an open invitation as long as we give him 24 hours notice. While he's not an untidy person - dishes are his least favourite chore. It's a clean building but it's also an older building and the implications of not having a dishwasher didn't sink in until after he signed the lease. LOL I can just imagine the dish washing frenzy that will be going on before every visit!

Of course as soon as Wednesday morning hit I was itching to get in my sewing area. More running around after work the past few evenings so sewing has been on hold.

So what did I do Friday, Sunday and Monday??? They were wasted days where I lived like a zoned out couch potato thinking about all we have to do over the next few weeks and coming up with game plans for each step. I thought about working on hexies but even that seemed like too much effort.

Next post I hope to have some pictures of Mt's new digs all set up and progress pictures of my new sewing room! I would love to say there will be actual quilting progress but that's unlikely until my sewing room move is complete.

D's Stars finally finished!!

It's DONE!!! Meeting up with Jackie tomorrow evening for dinner then off to D's work. She's been told not to take her break until her mom gets there. She still has no clue about this quilt lol! Sunday afternoon I dropped in on my parents with the quilt as soon as it was out of the dryer. They've seen and heard about this quilt thoughout the process and wanted to show them the final product before I gave it away. Pictures were taken at their house.

As I mentioned last post, I ripped the binding off D's Stars a few times. I'd had enough with this binding so I scrapped it and started fresh. I had a few hiccups with the fresh binding as well. I found that my space felt awkward and was fighting to feed it though straight. I used my 90's singer for the binding, while I used my old 1948 Singer for piecing and my powerquilter for quilting. What was different, well its a different table, my ironing board was right behind me, I was on the rolling chair instead of my usual smaller chair and my table had my bobbin winder and some fabric piled all over the place. Hmm something to think about...

With D's Stars finished it's time to get moving on MT's Layers of Charm quilt. Again, I have a short deadline (see Big News below). I've decided to start with stich in the ditch then figure it out from there. I'm fretting over the binding now which is a switch, it's usually the quilting I'm stressing over.

Big News -MT and I spent Saturday together, he needed to sign his lease and took the opportunity to show me his apartment. It's tiny but we'll laid out, clean and secure. We did some running around looking at furniture, we found a beautiful couch but at 1500, this was his entire furnishing budget so we are going to keep looking. We did have some luck at Home Outfitters, he got a vacuum, the Henckel knife set he wanted, some pots and pans. He loves to cook and they had a major sale so it was a real score  He gets the keys on the 29th but officially moves in April 2nd. I have Friday the 25th off for Stat holiday and booked the following Monday and Tuesday months ago for 'me' days. Tuesday is the day he gets his keys. He's planning to take the day off as well so we can prep (unpack his kitchen stuff, hang curtains) and checkout Ikea to hopefully find a couch and some last minute things (dish rack, cutting boards, excetera) I'll be honest I'm not sure I'm ready but he is, so its time to let him fly.

Did I mention his room will be my new sewing/office. 16x19 room with big windows for natural light. I have tons of ideas but want to do this on a shoestring budget. More on this later.

Last but not least, while out with Martin on Saturday, I was finally able to make my way back to Michaels and picked up the second last Happy Planner they had on the shelves. Crazy! I bought the expansion pack and added March - June (planner goes July 2016 -December 2017). The paper and lifestyle expansions which has sections for recipies, budget, will need to go another Micheals to buy the larger rings (my local store was sold out).

Binding blues

Thursday night I was supposed to baste and start quilting D's stars. Instead I added another row. What was I thinking??  In all honesty Chris came home looked at it and said what I been pretending not to see - it looked uneven. 6x5 rows not 6x6 that I'd originally planned. Why the change,  because my batting which was supposed to be 60 by 60 wasn't - it was short in one direction so when I realized that it wouldn't fit I stopped making the joining pieces for that row and put the extra patches and corners to the side. With everything cut and ready to go that last row went together quickly.

Got up early on Friday and got the backing ready before work and was spray basted using a trimmed down queen size batting I had in my stash during my lunch hour. After work started quilting, I was on a roll until  around 11 when something felt off. I took a peak at the underside of the quilt and discovered a big wrinkle. Stitch ripping until 1:30 am. There was still a slight wrinkle but much better. Picked it back up first thing Saturday morning, it was ready for binding at 2 pm.... there was no way I could bind and wash/dry the quilt in under 2 hours. I'm a bit bummed I didn't get it done by Saturday night but also happy that I get to spend a bit more time with this quilt. I play with the idea of making another exactly the same to keep for myself but I think I need to work on something else.

Sunday was a lazy day. I did get some of the binding done, ripped, done and ripped gain. I don't know why it's just not working for me. Alarm set early tomorrow again. Hopefully I can figure it out before work at 8

Deadline looming & Panic has set in

D's stars top is finally finished. Now the quilting begins. I have until mid Saturday afternoon to get it basted, quilted, bound and washed/dryed. No pressure lol! Honestly, spray basting, stitch in the ditch so no measuring, marking or over thinking and binding by machine doesn't take that long so it's doable... Right?? Dinner is at their place so no prep work or extra running around on on my end. I can do this, I can do this. ..

I did find sometime to get to Michaels last week to see if they had received The Happy Planner. The shelves were bare, they are currently getting all new stock. I was told to come back in a week after their next shipment.

I was procrastinating itching to do some EPP one evening last week so I made a quick hexie pin cushion. As you can see by all the holes already in it, I put it to good use with D's Stars. I'm also thinking of starting a leader/ender quilt. Those little scrap pieces sure do fill up fast to keep away the thread trails/nests, may as well keep a basket of 2.5 inch squares to use instead and get an extra quilt out of it. :)

Planners - do they work?

This past weekend did not go as I originally envisioned it (I thought I'd get D's Stars closer to the quilting stage). Excuses, excuses I know but I was on call at work last week. Upgrades late Friday night and pages at 4:30 am on Saturday morning I was functioning on less than 4 hours of sleep, after running downstairs and checking it out I was awake for the day. Quite a bit kid chauffeuring to work and back, Chris was working OT. I was  feeling ill all day and barely functional by 6pm. Sunday was running around with oldest daughter M.

One thing I was looking for was a planner. I'm feeling so disorganized and have little bits and pieces of my life scattered everwhere. I'm looking for a way to track my life in one spot. I don't update my blog regularly, I don't upload doodles or notes and don't use it for other parts of my life so it's a disjointed way of tracking and a very limited piece of my life.  I went to Staples and they didn't have what I was looking for in the size I wanted. There were a few bigger planners but they were hourly which was not the format I was looking for and were just shy of $100 - thats a lot of money for something that really isn't what I was looking for. I thought about making one, but that's a lot of work. I bought a cheap small weekly planner to use until I get/find what I'm looking for.

Taking my search online, I found The Happy Planner series (create 365) through Amazon and that got me thinking about Late Night Quilters - Quilters Plannner  I think Stephanie Palmer did a beautiful job on this, seeing that they are sold out (again) I'd say a lot of quilters agree. Each have their pros and cons, but I'm leaning towards the 365. The reason is - it's expandable. The way I envision my planner is almost scrapbook like, I want to capture pictures of projects or ideas, recipes, fitness tracking, etc and be able to insert it into the week. The 365 is also very reasonably priced (24.99). With our currency issues and shipping costs from US that it can be bought in Canada using CA Dollars through Michaels or Amazon is a major plus in its favour. It also has accessories such as extra pages, page protectors, (even a hole punch) so that you can insert any pages or extras easily. I did not see the price of the Quilt planner but I'm looking forward to see how it evolves.

One con I read in the reviews about the Happy Planner is that disc system is a bit flimsy when stuffing it in and out of the reviewers purse. I did take this into consideration and since I work from home and rarely travel it would be a fairly stationary item in my life and shouldn't be a big problem for me.

Current planner is 18 month July 2105-Dec 2016, while looking at their site I started scrolling through the blog saw they are launching their 2016-2017 planners (there are so many different options) Mar 1st.... I swear sometimes the timing of things I think the universe has a blinking Neon sign pointing the direction for me to go (or maybe just having a cosmic laugh at my expense with giving me hope I might actually get my *stuff* together) - I really hope its the former!

One of the Michaels stores in my area has the 2015-2016 planner and they are on sale right now. I will be making my way out this week to check it out.

No pictures this week but hopefully I will have some progress with pictures soon!

Derailed by Quick threading needles

Ok derailed is a bit extreme, more like had an obstacle thrown in my path...

D's stars is continuing to come together but a few weeks ago I noticed some of the sections threads were loose at edges and there were missed stitches. I figured out after lots of wasted time fiddling it was the new needle I put in when I started this quilt (actually Chris figured it out for me). Apparently at some point I had bought quick threading needles. In my troubleshooting I had replaced the needle but grabbed from the same pkg of needles. I was threading it normally and never noticed the slot just above the eye. Anyway my old Singer was not happy, it was unthreading and then rethreading as it sewed a stitch or two later but wasn't consitent and on quick glance I didn't notice it. Dug out a pkg of 'regular' needles and have been checking each section the last few weeks and it's all been good. I've reinforced seams that I thought looked even the slightest sketchy as I come across them but how many did I miss before I discovered the problem?? At the time I had fallen down the rabbit hole far enough in that starting over just wasn't happening. Quilting is going to be an overall stitch in the ditch. That wasn't my original plan but I really hope this will be enough to reinforce any missed areas so the quilt doesn't fall apart after a few washes.

It doesn't look like much progress since last post but it's coming together. I'm more organized in the back end for the stars which is the biggest time consumer but I admit it's been slow going

The past few days I've been watching The Splendid Sampler blocks pop up in my Fb feed and there are so many creative people out there. A lot of quilters are making tiny tweaks to the blocks or fussy cutting with fabric I'd never think to use. It's really incredible how people can take the same pattern as 15000 + others and mark it with their own special flare! I'm loving this group. I didn't jump right on the 2nd or 3rd blocks, with work and D's birthday less than 3 weeks away that has been my priority. I'm hoping to take some time and catch up (4th block will be released tomorrow)

This weekend marks a 3 year & a 17 year journey

This long weekend (Monday is Family Day in Ontario) marks my quilting journey and blog's anniversary weekend. Pictured is the first block I made. Valentines weekend also marks 17 years since Chris and my first date. I probably should have led with that....

First picture of us March ' 99

Chris & my lives crisscrossed so many times before we actually met its bizarre. I won't get into it here or this post would be a short novel but it's surprising that we hadn't met years before. Long story short - we met through mutual friends. Although we were both divorced at this point, we weren't introduced as potential dates for each other. He was doing me a favor by taking a look at my broken computer. Once he got it running with a new hard drive, I asked what I owed him and his reply was 'Dinner?' Not sure if you can see his blue eyes and dimples in the picture but how could I turn those down with such a smooth request? We had beer & take out pizza and watched Blade on VHS.

9 years later we married (8 years in May). We've had bumps and baggage (some mine, some his) to overcome along the way and still stumble on occasion but it's our road and one I'd take with him over & over again.

Picture is about a month after our first date.

Now back to quilting. I still remember the nervousness that first Saturday making the log cabin block with my very small Ebay/Walmart stash (a handful of fq's) using the kitchen table as my work-space. I was so worried that it was going to be a disaster. Other than not loving the fabric I was so proud of that block. Wanting to make more from the Sewn by Leila skill-builder-sampler I rushed to the LQS that afternoon and bought my first jellyroll of Batiks. I worked all weekend completing 5 more blocks by Monday night. I was hooked and Chris was looking for a place to move my sewing mess work-space LOL. And here ends my trips down memory lane ...

Saturday I concentrated on D's stars. I'll be honest as much as I love this pattern and how it's turning out, its slow going & I was beginning to panic. Part of the issue is watching Netflix while quilting, if I'm not interested in the show it goes OK, but if it's something I like, more watching then sewing/cutting/ironing is happening. This weekend I tried something different. I turned YouTube on the tv and picked a favorite band, cranked the volume loud enough so I could hear over the sewing machine and let it loop through the upbeat familiar songs. Wow! I think I found my quilting groove!   It looks like a mess in the picture but there is actually a method to my madness. I will be working on this tomorrow (Monday)

Today, I was away from the sewing room most of the day (family time) but I was able to squeeze in first block of The Splendid Sampler which was released this morning. My youngest R helped me pick which fabric to use. She loved all the 1930's reproduction fabrics and after some wrangling on her part, this quilt will be hers with the understanding that it will be a year in the making. That being the case, Farmers Wife revival quilt which I'm still itching to get started on will probably be M's. This doesn't mean I'm off the hook for their other quilts, I just get to make them lap size instead (and with the added bonus R offered to help me finish making hers - unsolicited quality time with my 18 yr old daughter outside of a mall... I feel like I fell into a pot of gold!!!). Maybe once M see's her sister helping she'll offer to work on hers with me as well - one can dream right!?! ;) . I will have to come up with some boys quilts as well... though I'm not so unrealistic to think they will be offering to work on it with me unless there was a way to put working electronics/car parts in it. LOL

Back to D's stars tomorrow. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend (or continues to for those with a long weekend)

Figuring it out

After my last post I couldn't get the idea that the Splendid Sampler needs patterned fabric out of my head and wondered if I could find a bundle that mached what I was envisioning.

See what I found!! 1930's Reproductions in 10 FQ bundle pack. I'm really hoping that the fabric choices are comparable with what is currently in stock in 1930's selection on the website. I know it's a crap shoot but this whole sampler is a complete mystery so maybe this is the right way to go... or maybe not. Time will tell. I also picked up a few mini bolts. I didn't go Black instead went for Charcoal & picked up another White and Snow (these have become staples in my sewing room). Orders rarely take more than a few days from this store so my pkg should arrive just in time for the first block. So here is the plan until I change my mind again, white as background, charcoal as my dark and a mix of patterned and solids for the medium. A few hours later basking in my purchase I realized I messed up on the previous calculations ...we need a total of 30-35 FQ's total for Splendid Sampler so if I bought all 35 FQ's that would have been $175 + tax. I'm still happy with my purchase and can't wait for next Sunday!

Farmers wife quilt revival 1st pattern ordered and received. I really am itching to work on this but D's Stars needed some TLC first.

Saturday I was in the sewing room by noon. Turned on home reno shows and got moving. Sunday, I was able to put some time before the Superbowlers arrived but its slow going. Now that I've got a bunch of the squares for the stars cut it should move a bit faster right? I really like the way this is turning out! There is one seam that slightly puckered and am probably going to rip it before I join to the next section..

I think this will be rows of 5×5. Other than MT's quilt this is the first time I've made a quilt larger than the 45 x 60 batting size allowed.  Up until last summer I thought pre packaged batting only came in craft, baby, queen and king sized only. I'd buy my batting at Fabricland when they had 50% off sales and thats the size Warm & Natural comes in. Fast forward to last summer when the LQS had a sale on batting. What do I see lap sized batting 60 x 60. After much discussion I bought bamboo batting. So it leaves the question are all the quilts I've made actually considered baby quilts? What makes a lap quilt?

On the to do list this week, buy two binders, clear binder sheet protctors to keep the patterns organized and get farmers wife book spiral bound.