It's Official...I'm in Panic Mode

Within a week of listing the house, there is a deal pending.....so yes, my state of panic is now official. Meanwhile the house is still being shown just in case the deal goes south. And of course, the potential buyers want possession by October 21 (two days after my workshop)....and yes, there is still some prep to be done in that department. 

Insomnia has also set in...it sort of goes hand in hand with panic (it's after 2:30 am). So instead of tossing and turning, I thought I would catch up with you.

See how useful fat quarters can be for packing dishes!!

 Balls of yarn work equally as well. 

As you can see from the blue counter-tops, there will be some kitchen renovations in the near future, which just might cause more panic to ensue.  

But will you look at the lovely views I will have from the condo!!

 

 

All in all it's been a very busy week, so far. But the highlight of my day came, when my three and a half year old granddaughter, Paige, told me, I was her special Grandma.....just what I needed to hear, puts it all in perspective.

Help!!!

WE ARE MOVING......three words destined to strike fear in the heart of any obsessed serious fabric hoarder collector!!!  

As as usual, my ability to focus has vanished and I find my self either running in circles like a chicken with it's head cut off or being totally immobilized in typical deer in the headlights fashion. Or worse yet, I'm procrastinating even making myself what will most certainly be a very long to do list, by window shopping for things I might but don't really need for the move.

Also, out of the blue, my design wall fell down.....hmm, it must be a sign that it's time to move. Maybe I need to switch to a heavier duty command strip to hold them up. As much as I love command strips....this is my first mishap, I don't recommend hanging anything breakable with them, such as mirrors or framed pictures with glass.  Just sayin'....

So here we go....time to pack up hundreds of meters of fabric and other quilting paraphernalia....sigh

It's times like these, that the words "I'll take the whole bolt" turn around and bite you in the....well, you know where. And that's not even thinking about moving the long arm!!! 

 

 

 

Plus the house has to look good for potential buyers.....oh dear. 

But before you feel too sorry for me (you do feel sorry for me, don't you??), the condo we are moving to has a walkout basement with a lovely view. And yes, I snagged it for my sewing studio. Plus...yes, there is another plus, there is loads of storage space!!!!! 

Between prepping for my upcoming retreat and moving I might just be wee tad bit busy. I'll keep you posted.

Oh Elmer,Elmer....sigh

With my husband off sailing for a week, I've been all on my lonesome......and LOVING IT!!! So what have I been up to?? Good question....how's that for being evasive?? Well, you know the usual...keeping strange hours, reading novels, navel gazing....and quilting, of course. 

And, I have a new man in my life, well sort of.....

Elmer, Elmer Elmer......you must be ancient and yet I adore you, for inventing the best glue ever. I wonder when that was exactly, I can never remember there NOT being any Elmer's white glue. I so underestimated your value and took you so for granted....well, that's about to change.
 

It's not that I hadn't heard of quilters using Elmer's Washable School Glue for gluing down bindings and such....I'm ashamed to say, I dismissed the idea out of hand. Sorry Elmer.....I WAS SO WRONG!! (Trust me those words do not come out of my mouth all that often, just ask my husband.)

 

Any of you that pop in now and again, know that I use the Quilt As You Go methods on a regular basis. Joining the long rows or columns of blocks can be a little really painful. I mean that literally, as there are several pins involved, which have a way of poking you, as you wedge the whole thing under the machine. Suddenly a light went on....if you can allegedly (at that point I had never tried it) glue down binding, why not the joining strips??

  

Joining QAYG columns with wide strips...check out the tutorial here.

I was a little nervous as put a line of glue in the seam allowance, since I didn't have the fine tip for the glue bottle that some tutorials mention....I will have to get me one of those.

 

But it went on without a hitch!!

Heat set with a dry iron. 

Would you look at that beautifully flat, glued down edge!! 

Here's a close up!! 

 

There is a tremendous advantage to not having to contend with pins as you sew down these edges. You just have so much more control.

 

Also...and this is huge, you no longer have pins poking you and catching on your clothing as you sew down these long edges....if you've never done QAYG, you will just have trust me on this.

I got so carried away, I finished Autumn's quilt (Pattern: Think Big by Jacquie Gering).

 

I even used glue on the bindings....I'll leave that for another post.

I love how this quilt turned out.

 

 

Here's a shot of the back.

So thanks, Elmer....you've made my quilting life a little easier and a little lot more pain free!!