What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I'm excited to hear I wasn't the only one that loved the York Heritage Quilt Show. Sadly -- it's over, but there's so much in the quilt world to keep us entertained! The organizers should be very pleased as the show was well organized and had lots of entertainment. 

I'm back home. I finished up at Thimble Quilts and Sewing Company (Windsor) around 4 PM and headed home. In the SNOW!!! What's that all about? I heard it was supposed to snow yesterday EVENING, not in the morning. Around 11 AM, I went out to ...

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Thanks, Carolyn, for the offer to bind quilts!!! I will start working on the binding as soon as those quilt backs are DONE! Only three more to make! 

I never get too much done on a Monday, as I seem to chat more than I sew! But I got the next quilt loaded on the long arm, and the next piece of machine embroidery prepped and ready to go. Plus, I cleared up a few things, and those worktables are almost clear! So it was a good day!

Worktables are almost clear!

Oh my -- I have serious allergy issues these ...

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 You had better sit down for this one. Even I was exhausted when I went to bed! 

I'll start with the quilt report. Yes --- more quilts are done for Quilts of Valour, making numbers 5 and 6 of eleven. Can I get five more done by Thursday evening? 

Quilts of Valour quilt Number 5

Quilts of Valour quilt Number 6

I know I will - - I'll make it a priority. Even with automation, quilting two quilts in one day is time-consuming! 

Four of the remaining five quilts

And I played bobbin chicken, and I won! I was getting close ...

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So many sewing artists have embroidery capability now, so let’s put that to use in a sew along! If you don’t have embroidery on your machine, don’t fret, you can just find a cute motif on some of your stash fabric to fussy cut for this step. Or you could do a quick hand embroidery for this step. For those with machine embroidery capability, get out your stabilizers and pretty autumn threads. I’ll give you the overall idea, and you can use what you have to finish as you like.

I loaded my embroidery hoop with ...

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There's no customer quilt to show you, and no embroidery got done. Yet I was scurrying around all day. I'm away this coming week (OK -- so I'm off to a quilt retreat - the last one of the year), and I spent the day getting everything prepped. 

I had some sewing projects that had to be cut so I could sew them. I had stuff that had to be stripped off the design walls so I could package it to take. I had to get the sewing machine feet and threads organized. There was no panic packing; each ...

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 A note about the BIG guys, like my "favorite" online store. Someone commented about Wal-Mart, which was probably the first big store to take over the retail market. I remember when they opened up a store in my small community -- no one wanted to shop anywhere else. 

And let's think about the quilting community for a second. Who do we know that is doing the exact same thing? Yep -- that is the Missouri Star Quilt Company. Think about it -- they exist in a small town that was dying, so they were able to buy up a bunch of cheap ...

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 Wow - I haven't blogged since April, hence the picture heavy mention in the title.  I keep thinking about it but then...  

I have been keeping busy with life in general, quilting, cross stitching, decorating, keeping out of the heat.  I also took a quick trip to California to see my friends and check up on my father-in-law.  But you aren't here to hear about all that, you want to see some finished (or semi-finished) products.  

First, quilt finishes.

Wonky Log Cabin - used some Amish fabric my mom bought me years ago and some solids from my stash.

Made ...

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Everyone knows this saying.  Meags and Me are at it again and have the most adorable patterns to go with this line of fabric!  I had the pleasure of testing the machine embroidery for one of their patterns.  Patterns for this line will be available in November.  I only had time to make one of each, but look forward to making more once we get back home.  I don't want to lug my BIG machine and

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Last weekend we spent the day at Gull Lake.My SIL and BIL and their kids bought a home on the lake.I managed to snap this pic of the three brothers.My hubby is in the center and is the eldest of 7.The one on the left is the youngest.The new home is gorgeous and we had a lot of fun seeing family.My Reject Retreaters and I have a "thing" about pineapples.So one of them found Crocs with pineapples

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 Ah, the overthinking happened again. 

Her first birthday is coming up.  I honestly had no plans to make anything; timing and all that.  Then I thought, what about a cute little sweatshirt for fall?  Then I remembered how hard it was to hoop the onesies and thinking about a size 2T sweatshirt got me to the idea of making a sweatshirt and embroidering the front before the shirt was sewn together.  How hard could it be?

Last Saturday the hardest part was finding suitable fabric.  Locally we have JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby.  My preferred local fabric store doesn’t ...

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This is my student desk. It was built by my father more than 50 years ago. I've had it my entire life. I use it as a dumping station. I've misplaced a book (I'm certain it is somewhere in the house) and this is where I started looking. I went through everything, recycled what I could and put things away. 
I managed to find the desktop, put things into storage, or out to recycles. Now, I can stack different things on this surface. 
I found some great test sews and embroideries. From center top:

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What a whirlwind day! I got so much done, and I had three machines going simultaneously! I actually worked later than I had planned, and I HATE when I do that because if I don't get my 8 hours of sleep, I'm tired, and it takes me a while to get moving. Note to self: DO NOT miss that bedtime hour - it's bad news for the next day!

The day didn't get off to a productive start, as I was on the phone until lunchtime! That was NOT in the plan, but it was all good ...

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I squeaked through another day! Oh gosh --- there's so much exciting stuff that I can't contain myself. I can't share all of it with you today, but WOW --- I'm so lucky. I've surrounded myself with some very talented people, and we are sharing all kinds of amazing information!! You'll be able to participate in that sharing either through the blog or through some future clubs. 

But here's the thing --- it works best if a great majority of the people are participating. You all know about the 80/20 rule --- 20 percent of the ...

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 And as far as quilting, I have about 5 tops done and working on another but I am going through physical therapy on my shoulder so I haven't been able to get on the ground to pin them to finish them.  Soon I hope.  

But first....I've had visitors and I took a little trip myself.  

I went to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to visit my friend Beth and there was the 2022 Dallas Quilt Show that we went to.  

It was a great show with lots of quilts and of course some vendors.  My friend Vicki ...

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I almost made it! Two presentations representing three quilts are prepped and ready to go. The third presentation for today, which I'll do twice, is a bit rough at the moment! The pictures are taken, and most of them are loaded in the presentation. It's trying to make sense of it all now. I think the girls will get a shorter walk this morning, so I can deal with that. 

Then I'll work on the stuff for tomorrow, tonight. Yep -- I know why this weekend ended up being so crazy. I was supposed to be away next ...

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 I'm back in a sewing room.  It's not quite done yet, but it's usable to sew.  The other stuff that needs to get done takes time (my nephew is installing shelves in my closets and I still have to paint them).  I will post pictures once that all gets done and everything is put in its place.

But I have three quilt finishes to show.  The first is a baby quilt I made for a co-worker (soon to be ex-coworker as my tenure with the company is almost done.)  

Memphis Jo Rose- she will be born sometime ...

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 The Zoom link has been sent for the free-motion class today. Dare I say that there are 100 people signed up? It will be crazy, but I've got it all planned out, so we should be good. I still have some prep work to do this morning, but I have plenty of time. 

I'm getting a wee bit later start to today because I heard this BANG in the night and then BEEP BEEP BEEP. That can only mean one thing. The backhoe is back to clear out the street. OH NO!! The plow had passed earlier in ...

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Let me tell you 'bout the birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees, and the moon up above...

...and a thing called love.

A few years ago our Girl Gang had its annual retreat where we had gathered for, I think, 10 years. When you're in close quarters for a week a lot of topics come up. One was about making another Girl Gang quilt.

When the shop where we used to meet closed a few years ago, we stopped getting the annual Girl Gang pattern. I didn't know if Jan Patek was still offering ...

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What a great day!! I'm taking a couple of extra days to goof around, and then I need to buckle down as some significant deadlines are looming, and I won't be as free as I am now. That's OK -- play hard, work hard!

I started the morning off with some geocaching. I need to get 6,190 points by Monday, and I started the day with zero. 

Here's the thing with geocaching. Those little containers are EVERYWHERE, and most are so small that you wouldn't know they were there unless they are pointed out to ...

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I have been sewing like crazy but most has been for gifts.  I will show a few things I have made that I can show.  I don't think the people I made them for read my blog so I should be safe, LOL. I made another Nightingale quilt using the Dorothy's Journey fabric.  I just finished binding it!  I have not taken a photo of the finished quilt yet though.  Michigan weather has NOT been cooperating

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