A day in the life of an obsessive quilter......

What a wicked weekend

Yikes - didn't get a lot of quilting done this weekend. I was on my bike. We cycled 50 KM on Saturday morning. Started out at 7:00 AM and went for 2 1/2 hours. It was absolutely beautiful. A bit hot which is why we headed out early. I was so exhausted when I got back, I had a nap - then lazed around the rest of the day. I did get a bit of piecing done. Oh yes - remember that purple/green mystery - well I got the bulk of that pieced only because I needed to get the next quilt on the design wall. How's that for incentive. And since the new one is to be a gift for my daughter's teacher, time is running out. Sunday morning back on the bike for an amazing 60 KM. We left at 9:00 AM and it was hotter. Although we were in the country and a nice breeze so really wasn't that bad, except that I looked like a tomatoe yesterday since I forgot to put sunscreen on my face. DUH!!!  I got back - had tons of water, tons of food (that is one advantage of all that cycling - guilt free eating), and a couple of naps.

Then down to the basement to sew. Three more seams and the teacher quilt top is together. I'll make the backing tonight and try to get it on the machine sometime this week - after two customer quilts. Hmmm - what will go on the wall next? I need to finish the purple mystery. I ended up buying one purple which I thought was perfect, but still kept looking and I found almost a perfect match. I was very happy. The quilt is batik and this fabric is not. The pattern is a bit more defined than a batik, but I bet that if I don't say anything, no one will know that I ran out of fabric!!!!!!  I will post a picture of both quilts as soon as the tops are done.

Fabric BINGO

What a crazy day!  First it was Monday Motivators which is a group that I host out of the Hobby Horse Quilt Shoppe in Georgetown, Ontario. Normally we have 10-11 people who come and sew on whatever they want. Yesterday was pot luck lunch and the quilters came out of the wood work. We were 17 in total. Imagine 17 excited, crazy quilting ladies and well - although some got lots done, there was a whole lot of socializing going on. It was an amazing day. After our wonderful pot luck lunch and isn't it amazing how we don't sign up for a particular food and we get a nice range of desserts, salads, etc. After lumch we then played bingo. Each person made a fabric bingo card as per instructions from an older issue of Fons and Porter magazine. Yikes - what a hilarious situation that was. I forgot my camera in the car and no time to get it. Anyway there were prizes for everyone and loads of fun.

I am planning a retreat in August in northern Ontario at this amazing retreat place - Quilter's MisBeehaven. Good news is that all spots are spoken for. That is great - now I can't wait to go. It is amazing to have 5 uninterrupted days to sew. No family, no phones, no cooking - well a bit of cooking. It is going to be pretty exciting.

Quilt retreats are life savers

I was fortunate enough to spend the last two days sewing at my local quilt store. I actually didn't take my sewing machine, but just took what needed to be cut for the next couple of upcoming projects. After I lectured my friend about the "need" to give everyone a quilt, here I am trying to make a small gift for each of the teachers at my daughters school who hasn't already got one from me. These are just little wall hangings that are gorgeous. A teaching theme. I will post a picture when I get one done.

If you have never been on a retreat, you just don't appreciate how valuable they are. I was all fired up and going to get all the sewing done for these projects. Well after arriving home at 4 PM and then dealing with the dogs, the daughter, the meals, etc. if was already 8 or 9 PM on both days before I hit the sewing machine. I sewed for an hour or so before I was tired. Needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done, but I at least did get some done.

So on that note - I am off to teach a quilt class today and hopefully will get a bit more cut while the students sew and also get all my little applique pieces cut out.

The bike adventure

I like to cycle as well as quilt. My bike club cycles on Sunday morning and this Sunday was absolutely beautiful. I have the biker's tan to prove it. However this was really my first time out this year. The leaders ask who wants to do the long trip (47 K) - not me!! Who wants to do the short trip (25K) - sounds just right. Once on the rode - the group had to split due to the skills of some of the newer people. Our fearless leader ended up eeking out 36K from us. The others had all been out before this year and all had road bikes, while I am plodding along on my mountain bike. However I wasn't the last one in, but my butt and my legs were quite happy to have arrived. What a great feeling - can't wait to go out again. And I do have a road bike, so must get it out - I am afraid of the new gear system - well not afraid, just unfamiliar so must get out.

To end the day - my friend Mary and I visited a new to us quilt store. I did have a quick peek last week. If you are in the Toronto area - you MUST visit this store. It is called Cock-a-doodle quilts. They have a huge variety of fabric from 30's, civil war, oriental, batiks to die for (those Tongas) and lots, lots more. The HUGE BRIGHT classroom would be a dream to sew in. Anyway I went with lots of things to match up and got everything, but one fabric. Needless to say, my credit card suffered. Now I can move forward on a number of projects that were stalled - just have to eek ou the time to make that happen!  What is another UFO?  My motto - the more the merrier and I'm talking about fabric and UFOs.

Have a great day.

Productivity rules

What a productive day we had on Sunday. I started off my loading a quilt on the long arm, putting the binding on a quilt; made several quilt backings and then my friends arrived.

OK – so I didn’t get all the books catalogued, but they were neatly stacked up against the bookcase so they were out of the way.

I set up a couple of tables and away we went. They all wanted to do Turning Twenty and came pretty much cut out. By the end of the day, all three of them went home with the quilt top done or very close to it. We had a great time catching up on all the news and gossip of course.

I spent the day working on a long overdue gift. I worked on the sawtooth border and the plain outside border. That was a very time consuming process. At the end of the day I kept trying to think what else I had worked on and with the exception of some four patches, realized that this border had consumed my day. I did get the binding done as well. I am just happy that the top is together. I think the pale colours didn’t encourage me to work on it. I LOVE bright happy colours and this is pretty drab. Did I mention that it is also flannel. No wonder it took all day.

I was so wiped after dinner that when I tried to sew some more, I just couldn’t so I tried cross stitch and that darn needle just wasn’t coming up in the right spot so I gave up and vegged in front of the TV!

This is where creativity kicks in

OK - so I didn't get any more books in the data base. I also decided that I needed a week vacation from working on stuff for others. So I played hooky. I started by taking the two dogs and doing my errands. We went to the bank, the hardware store and Tim Horton's. They always look so cute sitting outside waiting for me. Not always very happy I must say. The bigger one howls. I am sure people love that. But they each got a timbit so it was worth it for them. It took double the time to do the errands but we all got exercise so it was a great day and environmentally friendly as well.

I also finished the blocks for my mystery quilt. Don't you love the colours - my picture got distorted. But it is intense and bright - I LOVE it. However I wanted to do the sashing a bit different from the pattern - of course. Here is a lesson for everyone - I used to buy tons of fabric when I bought for a pattern. Well not tons - but extra. Anyway for the mystery I bought just what I needed. It did say to buy extra for borders, sashing, but since I didn't know which one - well I was being chintzy that day. So I go back to the store yesterday to get more fabric and THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT. I couldn't believe it - this was just a couple of months ago.

They did have some of the one I desparately need, except it was the border of a quilt that was already quilted. Trust me I was tempted!!!!  However common sense prevailed and we did not cut up the sample. So now the creativity has to kick in. I have enough to sash about half but I think I will have to go shopping (whoopppeeee!) to find something that I can use. Won't be the same, but something close enough it won't' be noticeable unless you really look. Am I being optimistic or what!!!

The Mystery Revealed

The BIG mess

The BIG cleanup

Have you ever procrastinated on a task? That's me - I'd rather be quilting!  The day I walked into the studio to find 1/4 of my books on the floor meant that I had to move that priority to the top of the list. Essentially the weight of the books sheered off the plastic nobbies holding the shelf in place. That shelf took out two more below as the weight become too much. At first I just stacked the books, but when some of my friends asked to come and sew, I had no choice but to deal with the situation. Off to the hardware store to get metal nobbies. Then the fun task of getting the sheered off nobbies out - that took a pair of pliers and a drill, but I succeeded.

How could I then just throw the books back onto the shelf when I really wanted to sort them, cull them and inventory them???  And why only do those that fell - no I decided to take on the entire task at once!!  So took ALL the books off and standing in the middle of the floor - lightly tossed them, like a game of horseshoes, into the appropriate pile. There are a LOT of books. My estimate is 1,000. That is totally insane - I had no idea. I culled some of them and will likely cull more as I go.

Got out the trusty laptop and started a database and entering them. One shelf is 3/4 full and there are already 49 books back on just that one shelf. There are 16 shelves in total. I will be there forever. No - remember to cull - remember to cull. The big question is - will I get it all done before Sunday when my sewing buddies are coming over. Why am I still sitting here? I better get myself in the studio and get those books organized.