Just January's Quilt Musing

Do you have problems finishing what you start? Do you have zillions of UFOs (UnFinished Objects) or WIPs (Works In Progress) or PHDs (Projects Half Done)? Do you start something and then run out of steam OR decide that you don't like it partway through? Or do you get distracted by something new? (Oooo, shiny!)

I love quilting and it is a rare thing that I start something and get partway through to decide that I don't like it (although that happened with the bags I designed this year, but I think that was because I have made 44 of them... and still have 2 on order!) I do, however, frequently wish something was done so that I could start something else! So I have come up with a way to 'solve' this. It might help you, so I thought I would share...

So I feel it is helpful to set a goal. So let's say it is, Finish something!

I have read lots of organization books - you know, the kind that tell you how to solve all your housekeeping problems - and they seem to focus on two main things (after the goal setting process.) You either are overwhelmed by the entire task of doing whatever it is you need to do. Or you are so focused on doing it perfectly that you are kind of paralyzed - too afraid to start because you know you can't do it perfectly... (Or in the case of quilting, maybe you start, but you don't finish because those points in that block are not exactly right!) I've written a musing on perfection so I am going to pass on my motto, as I feel it bears repeating, and then head back to point one. "Better Finished than Perfect!"

These same self-help books suggest that breaking an overwhelming project down into separate tasks is helpful. I also find that a LIST is helpful. I find a list particularly useful when the thing that I am doing is something unpleasant, as I might be able to trick myself into getting something done, simply for the pleasure that I get by crossing something off the list. I have highlighters in different colours and I find a list that has lots of colour on it VERY satisfying... (A list also focuses me on the task so I don't get sidetracked into doing something else. It makes it apparent WHERE I am and what I need to do next!)

Back to quilting! How, you ask, is this going to help you finish something? Well! Let me make a suggestion. Get TWO things out that you would like to finish. Get TWO pieces of paper. At the top of each piece of paper write the name of the project - Blue and Brown Quilt and Batik Placemats for example. Take a few minutes and figure out what has to be done to finish each project. The Blue and Brown Quilt might just be at the pile of fabric stage; so labeling, cutting, piecing, layout, etc. etc. And perhaps the place mats need to be sandwiched and quilted; so cut the backing, cut the batting, chose the quilting pattern, pick out the thread, quilt, make the binding, etc. Make TWO lists. Post the lists some place where you can see them.

Do one thing on one of the lists. Cross it off with a highlighter. (If you find that it is taking you too long to complete something on your list, maybe you didn't write down enough steps. Break the task into smaller steps!) If you are having fun with that project, you can do the next step on that list too, but don't get too gungho about one list - do something on the other one too! Alternate the lists, use lots of pretty colours with your highlighters, and get TWO projects finished for the price of one!!

When I make bags, I use the second project as a reward for finishing the next step in the bags that I have on order!! This way, I make progress on two things and I enjoy the anticipation of the next step on a new project, whilst reveling in the pleasure of finishing a step on something that needs to be done too!! So whatever trick you have up your sleeve, enjoy the process! I hope these tricks help you, and really, really, do remember, "Better Finished than Perfect!"

Just teaching a class at the Quilt Retreat...

Back to the bags. THIS was the thing that started the whole bag saga off. (I have made, I believe, 44 bags and I have two more on order...) (Although one of those might not be a Maddin bag...)

So first. The bags that I made at the retreat! There they are.

The theme of the retreat was ReUse, Reduce, Recycle. And the committee did an amazing job of following their theme. There was a Swag Bag - made of a used t-shirt (mine is a perfect laundry bag!) It included (among other things) a mug - so that you weren't drinking out of styrofoam cups, and a reuseable shopping bag from Berwick Nova Scotia - I just love it!!

The bag pictured above is biggish and designed so that you could use it at a retreat. The front and back pockets are chop suey blocks - which are scrappy blocks, designed to use up some of your stash - you actually make so many that are the same that we shared them. Anyway, the pockets are big enough to put your notes from the class. The inside is big enough for the project that you are making. There is a pocket with a zipper so that you can find your keys and wallet at the end of the class. There are two loops to hold your water bottles upright. And on the other side there is a divided pocket with a pen holder and two divisions big enough for your phone and your iPod.  Also on the inside, there is a place for a false bottom to hold the bag flat - I got a pile of placards from our local municipal election - with permission! And they are perfect!

So. That's the bag. Here's the teaching of the bag.

I got to the hall on Friday in the afternoon. The class started on Saturday morning at 9 am. I really, really knew how to make the bag AND I had written a pattern for each of the students - but I asked them not to open the patterns until after we were done.

I had 5 students (I actually had 6, but the 6th one had a medical condition and couldn't attend the retreat at all. She got the pattern and hopefully one of the other students can give her a hand if she needs it.) Two students finished their bags on Sunday in the early afternoon. One student fell behind - she was ill on Saturday and had to sit quietly for awhile. And one was doing a lovely job, but elected not to exchange her chop suey blocks which set her behind. (I wish I could see her completed bag - what she got done there was gorgeous.) And one lady only attended the retreat in the day time on Saturday. We continued to work on the bag on Saturday evening AND then again on Sunday morning and early Sunday afternoon.

I desperately wanted everyone to finish, and had to work to keep from rushing everyone. I tried to keep a balance between keeping the class together AND keeping the people who were working faster from sitting with nothing to do (which didn't happen - I just kept them going). I also didn't want the people who were not able to keep up, for whatever reason, to feel panicked that they weren't keeping up. I got good reviews at the end of the class, so I must have managed to do it just about right (but I worried about it at the time.)

Prep for the class:
In order to prepare for the class I had all the cutting that I had given everyone for homework done for TWO bags. I had ONE of the bags partially done, so that I could show HOW to do it - and then say, "And this is what it'll look like when you get that part done." And I could hold up the partially completed one. (The lady who had to sit quietly on Saturday didn't have her homework cut out either, so she started off behind.)

By the end of the class, I had finished my two bags (one had had several parts already done - zipper plackets made, zippered pocket done, divided pocket done and bottle loops made.) I already had enough chop suey units made to make both of my bags - although I traded around with the other 4 ladies who were trading, otherwise I would have had a lot of repetition!)

Included in the pattern for the bag was the pattern to make the Chop Suey Quilt as well. Which is also known as Hidden Pinwheels because of the secondary block! (And yes, this picture is sideways - the quilt looks better this way - even though it means the room in the background is standing on its head!!)

I don't think this is a very entertaining blog - but it gets this off my chest. I had a terrific time at the retreat - the ladies were lovely, the food was delicious. The COFFEE WAS AMAZING!! (BLISS!)

There were draws and contests, table favours and the ladies who didn't take the class were making the most gorgeous projects - and were happy to share and talk about them.

I had a terrific weekend. I came home on Sunday evening and on Thursday I was sick with a cold that knocked me down for the count. I was sick with it for 6 weeks - but I was REALLY sick for two weeks. During those two weeks, I didn't get into the Quilt Studio AT ALL - I must have been at death's doorstep! :-)

Anyway. All is well now, and my next topic will be the Festive Craft Market in November!!! 

Just about the Retreat!! In fact, just the Trunk Show

Before I start talking about what happened at it, I want to say that it was absolutely wonderful!! I met many lovely quilters, I had a great weekend. I had a wonderful time talking about the quilts that I have made and seeing the amazing things that the other quilters were making!!

I was asked to teach a course. In case anyone has read my rants on bags (I think I have made 45 of them now, and I have one more on order, and have been approached about another, but I don't have any details about the second one...) THIS is what started off the whole 'bag' trip. To recap, I designed a bag to teach at this course. When I got it done it was HUGE! So I made a smaller one - with a chop suey pocket, so we called it the Chop Suey Bag - and sent it off to Helen to show to the ladies in the Quilt Guild.

Then, I made a smaller one still, just for fun. And I showed it to my mom who liked it, and showed it to the ladies in the office and kitchen where she lives, and the next thing you know I was up to my eyeballs in orders for bags.

Included in teaching a class (whch I had done before, both quilting and non-quilting) was a Trunk Show.

I had never done a trunk show before, so I spent some time thinking about it. My friend Scott in Nebraska told me his pet peeve with trunk shows. He said, "Don't hold up each quilt and say, 'I made this quilt.'" And then hold up the next one and say the same thing. (Or variations on it...) Made sense to me.

I have to digress briefly (or possibly not so briefly... bear with me.) I went back to school as an adult. I was working full time as a Library Technician in two Elementary Schools and I went back to College to get my Library and Information Technician diploma. I was technically very proficient with computers. I did learn things in the program, but there were courses that I could have taught instead of taking - Computer Fundamentals should be included in that list. (We learned how to copy and paste and how to rename a file. We had one poor lady in the class who had NEVER turned a computer on in her life... When the instructor told her to move her mouse up, she lifted it off of the mouse pad... oh, it was awful!)  Anyway. We had several different instructors. Some of them were wonderful. Some of them were not so good. One lady was AWFUL! She inspired me to be a better teacher than she was...

So I needed to know what I was going to show, and what I was going to say. How long did they want me to talk? (I was expecting 25 minutes or so...) 45 minutes to an hour would be about right.

Eeek! (Those of you who know me IRL will know that talking is not a problem for me. However, this Trunk Show was a fundraiser and they opened it to the public - so there could be quite a few people there - and not people with whom I would be spending the weekend quilting.)

So I made a list of the quilts that I wanted to show. And then, just in case I got up in front of everyone and drew a complete blank, I wrote what I wanted to SAY about each quilt or quilted object. As I wrote quilts down, I realized that I was going to talk about my journey in quilting from the very first item I made right through to the thing I finished the afternoon of the Trunk Show! (And one thing more that wasn't actually finished... there are only so many hours in the day!) So I had a theme. I didn't really expect to read what I had written - but I am a good reader (lots of practice!) so I figured it wouldn't be a complete disaster if I lost my marbles right there in front of everyone.

I emptied out three rubbermaid containers full of stuff being stored in the house, enlisted the Beloved Dearly's help. Beloved and I piled quilts up from all over the house - I have them on couches and chairs. On my coffee table, on our bedroom walls, on two quilt racks in the living room, hanging as the headboard in our guest room, and pinned up on the walls all over the house. I borrowed back two quilts from Mom and Dad, Christmas gifts from several years ago. I read the list and Beloved carefully folded and stashed the quilts. We started with the last bin, and the LAST quilt, and put the quilts in one on top of the other in the reverse order  that I was going to talk about them. I wrote the numbers 1, 2 and 3 down on pieces of paper and put them on top of the top quilt in each bin before we put the lids on. I had thirty quilts in the end and a couple of quilted squares for classes that I have taught. And I included the Chop Suey Bag that Helen had had for the past 5 months.

Just before the Trunk Show started I had a moment of stage fright. But while Helen was introducing me, it vanished and away I went... I talked for an hour. People smiled encouragingly, oohed and aahed in the right spots and laughed on cue... Whew! What a relief.

At the end, people told me it was the best trunk show they had ever seen. (No one told me they were the best quilts they had ever seen - and I wouldn't have believed them if they had.)

But I did get accolades for having something interesting to say about each quilt. I tried to talk about the things that made quilting FUN for me: The things that made each quilt memorable or funny. I talked briefly about techniques, classes I had taken or taught, and things I had designed.

I also got accolades for having everything in order. Have you ever been to a Trunk Show and the poor quilter is hunting through a huge pile of quilts for the one she wants to talk about next? Or the people who are holding the quilts up hold something up and she goes, "Oh!" like she has never seen that quilt before and has no idea what she is going to say about it? My thoughts were collected, I handed the quilts to the two ladies who held them up, and I had my list so that I could quickly reacquaint myself if I had one of THOSE moments. (I didn't, but I did manage to call McKenna Ryan, Ryan McKenna - fortunately someone in the audience got me straightened out.)

My S.E.X. quilt was a hit. So I thought I would talk about it and share a photo... First talking. I used to belong to the Common Thread Quilt Guild in Ottawa, Ontario. It is a wonderful guild with all kinds of things going on to spur our creativity and imagination. One of the things is a yearly quilt challenge. I participated in three or four of them. This is how it would go. The Challenge committee would get a bolt or two of fabric and cut it into smallish pieces. There would usually be four or five fabrics of varying sizes in a brown paper bag, with the rules to the challenge INSIDE the bag. You would pay a small fee to join the challenge and you would get the fabric (sight unseen, I might add) and the rules. The resulting small quilt or wallhanging would be due in at the April meeting and in May the membership of the guild would vote for their favourite challenge quilt.

The S.E.X. Challenge was the Stash Enhancing eXperience Challenge. And we were to interpret that theme in any way we wanted. (There were prizes for the most different pieces of fabric in the quilt) All five of the fabrics in the bag had to appear in the quilt top, but any amount of other fabrics could be added and there was a maximum size.

I was the only one who created a quilt with the quilter having sex on a quilt. Her clothes, and his, are strewn around, however her handiwork is hung carefully on the tree. I had some lovely quilting fabric, and I fussy cut some appropriate pieces to cover up their salient points. Anyway, it was fun!

Here's the quilt:

It hangs in my Quilt Studio over the ironing board. The Guild also had a 9 Patch thing going on - so I thought the border (which had the 5 challenge fabrics in them, as well as in the picture) was a nice touch! The little quilt on the line is actually free motion quilted, but the blocks were not pieced... the clothespins are from Scrapbooking. The corners say things like the Joy of Quilting. And on their bottoms, the sign says, Do Not Disturb, Quilter at work! Seemed apropos somehow!!

Have fun!

Just getting ready for a Quilt Retreat

I've been asked to do a Trunk Show and teach a class at a quilt retreat in a small place in Nova Scotia. I was asked in the spring, I think.  The theme of the retreat is Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. So my friend, Helen, and I talked about what I could teach in the class that would work into that theme and be fun and useful, besides.

And we settled on a bag in which you could carry all your stuff to and from a class or a retreat. AND while we were at it, the quilted pockets on the bag would be made from Chop Suey blocks. The blocks are scrappy - they are made from strips. If you cut billions of strips from fat quarters in your stash, you can, with time and patience enough, make a wonderful scrappy quilt AND use up some of that fabric that you just don't know what to do with. So you would learn two techniques at the same time. (And I have created a pattern with just that idea in mind!)

Remember, I said this was all arranged back in the spring?

Okay, I didn't leave EVERYTHING to this week. I had to design the bag. So I made a HUGE bag - too big, really. I was very pleased with my huge bag, and I'm going to digress to tell a story about it. I made the bag and brought it upstairs to show my hubby. I left it on the counter overnight and Molly (one of the cats) slept on it. (More on this in a moment.)

My daughter lives in Calgary, and she and I use MSN Messenger (or Messenger Live) to do face to face chats with each other. The thing that I thought she would especially like was a divided pocket inside the bag - one the exactly right size for an iPod. I couldn't find my iPod, at the time, so I popped my camera into the pocket. I put a water bottle in the loop and managed to hold it open for her to see. (She agreed that that was a handy option, and announced that she liked the bag.) We finished our chat and I took my water bottle out of the bag and tsked at the cat hair on it, and decided to pop it in the washing machine.

After the washer was running for about 30 seconds, I became aware of a thumping sound! MY CAMERA!!!! The washer is a front loader, and so the door locks when it is on. There is a cancel button - and on my washer, if you hold it long enough the machine shuts off, the washer drains a bit and you can reach in, in a big panic, and find the empty bag. What? I ran into the kitchen - no camera! I ran back to the utility room, splashed around in the water in the bottom of the washing machine and found my camera!

I bought this camera because I canoe - and it is waterproof to 6 feet and shockproof. I dashed into the kitchen, washed the soapy water off of the camera, and turned it on. PHEW! All was well, dried off the camera, and turned the washer back on. Close call - glad I couldn't find the iPod!

Anyway, back to the bag. It was really too big, so I made a smaller one - a prototype. And when the size worked out, I remade it with the chop suey blocks, took pictures of it, wrote up a proposal and was accepted.

So I have 6 students taking my class and 19 people have signed up for the retreat (the Trunk Show is open to the public!)

I sent out, a month ago, a list of things that the students needed to do for homework (the reason that we are making the bag, not the Chop Suey Quilt is that they wanted something that would be done by the end of the weekend. I have made two Chop Suey Quilts.

This is the first one I made. I took a class in Ottawa. (I'm looking at the background, and I realize that the quilt is being held up sideways! LOL)

And here is the second one I made:

These scrappy quilts take a LONG time to make. Each block is made of 4 Units and each Unit is made with 4 different fabrics. So that is 16 fabrics per block and when it as scrappy, you want each of those fabrics to be different! AND there is a secondary pattern - a hidden pinwheel, and it should have 8 different fabrics too! So you cut LOTS and LOTS of units before you make a block.

For the bag, we need 8 blocks, 4 for the front and 4 for the back - so we need 32 units - 16 different ones per side. I have a little box in my basement labelled Chop Suey Parts and when I opened it today (ummm, Tuesday - and yes, I leave on Friday for the retreat.) to make my sample bag I discovered to my intense joy that I actually had enough units already made to make a few blocks. So I put a Wedding Cake, a Square Strip, a Pair, a Unit and a Block in my sample box - and then I started making more units! I need to have 64 units, at least. So I finished 32 - which is enough for the sample pockets of my teaching sample...

 They aren't exactly different - there are fabrics that repeat, between the two sides. I used only a pair of units from each Square Strip/Pair, one for the front pocket and one for the back pocket. (Who knows which one is which!) I was careful not to duplicate them.

What do you think? These are on my (lovely) design wall (a striped flannel sheet) and have not been assembled into the two 14 1/2 inch squares. That's tomorrow.

I also, while I was making enough of these to have some variety, I made about 25 more units. In order to have enough variety, I am planning to have the students exchange units. (Keep your fingers crossed for me!!)

I have all the parts of two complete bags cut out. For ONE of them, I labelled all the parts with pinned on post-it notes. For the other, I have assembled the two interior pockets, the two bottle loops, AND the darned zipper plackets. I have the false bottom and regular bottom of the lining ready, and the lining itself is ALMOST finished (one seam left and the bottom to put on, after the zipper plackets are sewn in.)

I have the straps assembled, reinforced, and I'm ready to go with them. I can't decide whether to put them, actually ON the outside, or whether to demo that - maybe demo. I need to finish these two pockets, and get them bound... I'm not feeling panicked yet - I am almost ready.

I have 25 of the remaining 32 units done (I may have to go back downstairs and make more units when I am done this.)

On the upside, I made my name tag today! Wanna see?

It even has a pin on the back, and it looks good on too! I wonder how many times it'll go through the wash - I'm not good with pins! (Or washers, now that I think about it!)

And I have a To Do List - which is nearly all done. I LOVE To Do Lists - I highlight the things I have done - then you can see what you have accomplished!!! :-)

And I have a list of things to take! AND I have a list of the quilts that I am going to show in the Trunk Show! I'm getting there!!!!

Wish me luck!

Just a busy week - some quilting stuff :-)

The Beloved Dearly and I have a geothermal heat pump - I really like it. It cost the bomb to have it put in three years ago - but it is wonderful.

On Friday of last week (I only tell this because it pertains to the rest of the week) the thermostat was backlit in red and there was a message to call the contractor. We live in a small town in Nova Scotia - I love it here. But the town has a reputation for having contractors who say they'll be there sometime on Wednesday, and you wait around, and no one shows up. Our contractor said someone would be over in the afternoon AND he said the system was under warranty, and that it was likely a sensor.

It wasn't a sensor, but Ryan was here in the afternoon, figured out what was wrong and said that, although he was off on Monday, someone would be here. On Monday we got up before 8 am. (We tend to stay up late and sleep in - what the heck, we get lots of stuff done, just later in the day than everyone else!) So getting up before 8 am is a bit of a pain. Anyway, at 11 I called the contractor to see what time they thought they would be over. A hiccup. Ryan was off and someone had called in sick. BUT she would call me right back and let me know what was going on. And she did! Ryan had diagnosed the problem, they had the parts on hand and someone would come over on Tuesday to fix the system - and it would be all fixed by 5 pm. (I made one tactical error - I did not ask what time she thought Ryan would be back...)

Monday evening, I bit the bullet and finished the pattern I have been designing. I had been writing it for awhile, and I had plunked a zillion pictures in it - but it was 9 pages (NINE!) long without cutting directions, fabric requirements, cover page or directions for the pockets. So I took all the photos out, added directions for the zipper and printed it. Then I proofread it - fixed it up, and printed it again. Ta-dah! Here it is:

 I am teaching this bag at a Quilt Retreat in Berwick next weekend, so I need 8 for the students in the class. So I took the whole thing with me to morning coffee on Tuesday, bought the folders, and printed 15 copies of them. Apparently some of the ladies have asked, if they weren't taking the class for the bag, could they buy the pattern? Well, heck, yeah!

So, we have the bag pattern and the block pattern. Phew! One thing done. I'm also doing a Trunk Show and I have started a list of quilts and sort of figured out what I'm going to say about each of them -- FORTY minutes. (I have to admit, anyone who knows me knows that forty minutes as a minimum is NOT the problem... How will I get stopped? I may take my timer!!)

So Tuesday morning, we got up before 8 again. Beloved Dearly was in bed before midnight - but I had trouble going to sleep - and was still awake at 2 am. The alarm was not a welcome sound at 7:30!

On Tuesdays in the afternoon, my friend comes over and we quilt together. I try really, really hard to have some hand work to do - binding usually, but occasionally applique and sometimes knitting. Tuesday afternoon I didn't have anything to do though - so I did some cutting. I quilt by machine. My friend does a lot of applique and almost all of her quilting is by hand. One of my facebook friends had made a Ricky Tims Convergence. I have his book, which I love, and I had pulled 8 fat quarters - with the thought in mind that I would make 2 of them.

Here is the fabric for the first one: (By the time I took this picture I already had them cut into squares.)

 I have to tell you, in case you don't know - my design wall is a pink, blue, white and yellow striped flannel sheet. My mom gave me two of them in the 1970s - and we used them on the bed in the wintertime when we slept on smaller beds. Now I use one to wrap things in for transport, and the other is pinned on the wall in the Quilt Studio. It works BUT it does have those distracting and disconcerting stripes!

Here is the fabric for the second one. Aren't they pretty?

By dinner time I had such a headache! (A fatigue headache, I'm such a wimp) However, I did manage to get back into the Quilt Studio, and I got the centre of the first Convergence done. What do you think?

(The design wall looks worse and worse! Sorry!)

At 3 pm on Tuesday, the phone rang, they would be here in a few minutes, was anyone going to be home? By 5 pm, our system was all fixed, I had reprogrammed the thermostat, and everything was wonderful. I had the BEST sleep Tuesday night - no worries! :-)

On Wednesday, I went over to my friend Freda's house and she drove us to New Glasgow where we went to Atlantic Fabrics - and she picked up the borders, sashing and binding for the quilt that she is making entirely by hand for her grandson! We went in to get green (this was her second trip there, she has anxiety about picking colours.), and came out with absolutely gorgeous blue!!

I love fabric stores. I try really hard not to get carried away! However, I found one piece I had to have!!! Here it is:

This picture does NOT do it justice. Sorry, I'll try to take another one. In the meantime, it is sort of green on this end, turns darker at the middle where it mixes with dark blue, which fades to light blue at the other end. It is absolutely gorgeous - and I had to have a little piece!!

Freda came over on Thursday evening, and I cut the fabric that we bought. She does traditional quilting - cuts with scissors, pieces by hand, quilts by hand!! She would like to have this quilt done by Christmas. I cut her sashing and borders (all 4 inches wide, all the same fabric) and then I cut her binding - which we sewed together with a mitred seam, and then we trimmed it, I pressed it, wrapped it around an empty toilet paper roll, and she was all set.

We had a discussion of hand quilting versus machine quilting. And I showed her some of the quilts I have ready for the Crestive Faft Market, and she asked me how I quilted those patterns on there. So I showed her. And I think the picture came out! I had a block ready for some class that I took or taught - who knows. So I stuck it in the machine, put on my white gloves and did this:

She couldn't believe I didn't draw it on in advance. I told her that I drew it on with the machine.


Fun anyway!! I think she is happy to do hers by hand!

I have the Hugs and Kisses quilt loaded on the frame - and we'll see how that goes on the weekend!

 Happy Quilting and stuff!

Just a Festive Craft Market

My friend Alison and I have been quilting together on either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons for a couple of years now. Last fall, we decided that we should try to sell some of our quilts. We designed a webpage, made some quilts and posted them on it. More on that in another Blog Post.

THIS blog post is about the 'stuff' that I have gotten ready for the Festive Craft Market at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Bible Hill, NS in November 2012.

This, I might add, sounded like a REALLY good idea when we thought of it in July!

I have stopped posting new things on the webpage, as we signed a contract saying we would have enough things to keep our booth full for two days!! TWO DAYS! What were we thinking??

Alison has made a million small things. So many small things that she is getting sick of it. I don't have pictures of her things - she has also made a sale, as a fan showed up at her house and purchased some of her items.

I have been finishing things. I want to tell you that these were not UFOs (UnFinished Objects, in case you aren't a quilter). They weren't buried, they weren't dusty, they were piled up. We also have 2 partners in this quilt business - they make quilt tops and I quilt them. One of them is quite prolific! I have SEVERAL quilt tops from them.

I spent a LONG time making bags this year. (More on bags later too!)

So I was elated to get to actually quilting. :-)

I decided I'd better finish the things that Bern and Mandy gave me in March. (See that was THIS year!) I had finished one of them already!! So I had 3 more.

First I did Bern's Birds and the Bees. Here it is:

 The reason for the name is that the fabric is called Le Poulet Rouge (the red hen) - and it has pictures of chickens and bees on the various pieces. Sure enough... The Birds and the Bees.

I thought I ought to be giving Mandy and Bern equal time - so Mandy's Chopped Apples was next. It is below.

 Mandy collected the apple fabric over many years - and she collected and collected. Finally she decided she ought to make it into a top. Isn't it pretty?

After that, although I have 4 tops of my own done, I figured I'd better do another one of Bern's. This quilt was made for a colour blind boyfriend who jilted her. Ha! Do you think he is going to get this lovely quilt? I THINK NOT!! In any event, Compromised Values is depicted below.

 I added the border to the quilt. I think Bern had meant to add this short piano keyboard border. In any event, she had a couple of pieces of it done. I had fabric left over, but I decided when I got the border made that it really was all the quilt needed. It isn't huge, but it is kind of pretty. (Much prettier than I thought it would be when Bern showed me the fabric initially. She and I took the Lover's Knot course at the same time. Mine is hung in the spare room on the wall above the headboard of the spare bed. I did NOT arrange my colours as well as Bern did hers!

Finally, my guilt expiated, I decided I should quilt one of the three things that I had made - ready to go for the show. Except. I watched this funky tutorial on the Missouri Quilt Co. youtube channel and there was a video to make a Christmas Tree Skirt. Picture me rolling my eyes. There was nothing for it, I had to make one. So here it is, all quilted and bound.

 I'm really happy with it - I quilted holly leaves and berries on it, and I think it is gorgeous. So, look, something Festive for the Festive Craft Market.

I still have three things of my own ready to quilt. SO. I decided I'd better get them done. First is this.

This is a quilt made entirely of batiks. I called it Batik Sunset. (or alternatively, I mis-call it Batik Sunrise. My friend Kate suggested I should call it Sunrise, Sunset - and that would have solved my problem, but it was too late - the label was already made!) This quilt is actually much brighter and I'm going to post a picture taken with the sunset setting on my camera - the only issue is, that while the colours are truer, the picture is a little blurrier... anyway, here is the blurry picture.

This picture is before the binding was put on.

I still have a lap quilt called Hugs and Kisses - the top is made and the backing and batting are cut out and ready to go - hanging, in fact, over the railing of the quilt frame.

I have a Sampler Quilt that I am not sure I want to sell - I will ask a million dollars for it at the show - it is all houses, and I love it - I still, however, have to put the three inch border on it.

Yesterday I made a Convergence Quilt - this will be a table topper.

I now need to make some small things! Mug Rugs, Cat Mats, wall hangings and Advent Calendars. I daren't plan too far ahead - it is a bit overwhelming! However I am still having fun! I'll post more Crestive Faft Market stuff as soon as I get it done! LOL
Just Crestive Faft Market...

Just bags...

I was approached about attending a Retreat of a small local Guild. I was asked if I would be interested in teaching a quilting class of some kind AND doing a trunk show. No problem says I. What would you like me to teach?
The Theme of the retreat is something like Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose (that isn't exactly it, but it's pretty close) so I listed off the things that I thought I could teach. And we decided on a bag. A bag big enough to carry stuff to and from a class, and the pockets on the bag should be scrappy, so you were able to use up old fabric without having to buy more... And I thought of the Chop Suey Block - which I have also seen called Hidden Pinwheels after the secondary pattern. I have even taught that class before, so all I had to do was design the bag.

So I made a bag. It was HUGE!! REALLY huge!!!

So I redesigned the bag for the class. I added the chop suey blocks for the pockets, made the bag smaller and added pockets and loops on the inside. Below is the second bag.

Below is me, holding the second bag, which is a much more reasonable size. I will admit that before I made this, I used some 2$ material and made the bag without the chop suey pockets and with out the interior embellishments as well. Later, I disassembled that bag, and reclaimed the straps which were good quality cotton. The rest of the bag was polyester and I threw it away! :-)

 And I delivered the bag to the Guild, wrote a proposal with my costs and bingo, I was in.

I also decided to try a still smaller bag. One you could carry your book and sunscreen to the beach with! I bought some absolutely adorable chocolate fabric...

 

 I took it to show my Mom and Dad and my Mom really liked it. She took it downstairs to show the ladies in the Seniors building they live in. Within 15 minutes I had 7 orders for bags in various colours!!!

I have since made 38 bags. And I have four more on order. These are not part of our quilting company and there are none on the website, because I can't get caught up with the orders!!!!

Here are more bags, in no particular order! There were a few more than the pictures below, but you get the idea!