Squirrel!!!

You know how 'Squirrel!' refers to the poor person with ADHD (me) who is so easily distracted by any shiny thing that goes by? Well, in the spring we use that phrase differently at our house.

This oil can was in the garage up in the rafters. It is so jam packed with pine cones that we can't get them back out. Every spring it's a head scratcher to see what the resident squirrels have done in the garage over the winter, and it usually involves copious amounts of cones. One year we threw the cone piles out the door, only to have them trucked back in (as we watched) by a foul mouthed squirrel. He worked faster than we did. We gave up.

I spent the last 2 days working on a new appliquéd quilt top with my peeps. Ooh La La! It's a real blast to work on with friends. Social sewing. I love it! I even learned to hot fix sequins things to make a necklace for my dress block. We're talking about crazy quilting and a puppy quilt next. I love using decorative stitches on my machine, so the crazy quilting is a must. We got a new book in the store for inspiration. A shiny new book! Can we say 'Squirrel!'?

I promised (threatened) myself that I would post a pic of the current state of my sewing room. I need to get the UFO's down to a dull roar. Can you hear them? They yell out in the night, and I love each and every one of them, so the guilt of abandonment is heavy on my shoulders. This picture is a promise to all of you that I will tidy, organize and schedule myself. The fact that I just bought 3 cute embroidery files shall not distract me (sale at Urban Threads, people). I must be strong. Soooo strong.

Yes. It real looks like that. The overflow is in the attic and the guest room. The MIL is coming for a visit soon, so I'm a panicking!

I went to a Pfaff Retreat last weekend. It was 4 days of sewing bliss! Even the local signage seemed to be calling my name. We got to try out new projects and products. It was a constant stream of ideas and possibilities! You always take home some hugely valuable trivia as well from these things.

When using a circular attachment not all stitches look great and sometimes one stitch width or length is better. It takes time to scroll through all your stitches and figure that out. I saved all the good stitches to a folder in my favourites, along with a straight stitch. Now when I use the circular attachment I just need to open that folder. Big time saver! Thanks M! Also I learned to use stitches that go right off the edge if it's a good look. If you need to you can stitch again, just inside that decorative stitch with a satin stitch, just to nail that raw edge down completely. I've got a cute baby quilt top with circles all over it. It's one of the few UFO's from that weekend. I finished most projects up.  What a star! For those of you who keep track, I did get all the fabric quilted and the jacket is almost done - just a bit of binding left. The Great P is also at the same point and her jacket is amazing!

This is a HexNMore ruler block. It goes together sweetly.

Here is a new bag pattern that can be lined (or not) and goes together in about 30 minutes. I love a set of sensible directions!