What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

So before I tell you all about the back, let's talk about the firsts! 

As you are probably aware, I love to find geocaches. Now I'm not a huge geocache person as I haven't hit 600 yet, but I like to do it from time to time. And it's something fun to do in a location you are visiting. As with all things I love, there are many ways to measure what you do - the number of caches you find, the level of difficulty, the size of the container, and many other things. One thing that ...

 HA -- I love the comments - I LOVE them all referring to the Jen Kingwell quilts. Yes, indeed - I LOVE them all, and very hard to pick the one I like the least. They are all so worthy in their own right, and I'm just so darn proud of everyone who finished, and there will be more finished quilts. Those will get posted and added to the appropriate slot to keep them all in the same place. You'll know when that happens. 

It's that bittersweet day at any retreat, as we're going home today. But as usual ...

 I am not a superstitious person per se. However, I think about all those things that you are not supposed to do, like walking under ladders, what to do if a black cat crosses your path, and everything to do with the number 13! I don't avoid that kind of stuff, but it crosses my mind. More on that in a minute. 

I had a very bizarre presentation yesterday. It was on Zoom, all the participants were in the store, and they never opened the camera link, so I had ZERO connection with any of them, including the store ...

 It's a challenging world out there. What is more important? Making money? or having more likes? 

It's a tough choice for a lot of designers, makers, doers! Really - how do people decide how to distribute their content? And how do you choose whether you want to watch the free stuff or the paid stuff? I will say that you need to be careful whether the content is free or not. Just because someone has a video camera does NOT mean that what they put online is good information. Some of what I've seen is terrible. 

Not only ...

 Oh my gosh -- we had the BEST time on the Virtual Retreat! You have to LOVE technology!! I had to be absent for part of it as I played chauffeur, but I could connect in the car once I dropped my passengers off, and I got to chat while I drove home.

There are so many things that we can talk about -- why do we need to talk about such a controversial topic like COVID? I have no issues with discussing it or it being a topic of conversation. What drives me crazy is when it gets heated because people ...

Another great day! OK -- every day is a great day - it just depends on how you look at it. Positivity is a good thing even though stupid things are happening in the world and around me, but I'm in a very fortunate position, so I really can't complain. 

The only thing I have is a TON of work, and it all needs to be done now. Computer work and sewing and quilting. When I woke up this morning, I just allowed myself to lay in bed contemplating it all but didn't get up! Well, not right away ...

 Well, I'm behind in the news! But here's the latest update on the situation for the Quilt Market/Quilt Festival in Houston in October. It was announced last night that the FALL Quilt MARKET would be postponed. Hmm -- what does postponed mean? Well, when they say the next one is scheduled for spring in Salt Lake City, that basically means that it's canceled. I'm not sure why they didn't just come out and say that. 

However, the same e-mail states that Quilt FESTIVAL is still going ahead. So it's OK to close the smaller ...

 Oh my goodness -- I'm a MOUTH breather at the gym. I was huffing and puffing on the spin bike, then I realized I was gasping for air. OK -- I'm exaggerating. I'm not gasping, but I definitely breathe with my mouth open. I tried to breathe through my nose. Yikes -- that was hard! Even when I was not at maximum effort. That's going to take a bit of getting used to. 

It just goes to show that we are so not conscious of how we breathe. And I swear that spin class is a killer. I'm ...

What a GREAT day yesterday was! I did spend quite a bit of time (hours!) on the phone chatting to several people, but sometimes that's a necessity! I felt better; hopefully, they did as well. And one call was extremely motivating, and well, I'm just like my Dad -- I LOVE to talk. I think that's why Zoom works so well for me -- I get to talk! I don't need hugs - I just need to talk. But I listen also!

OK -- so I tried sleeping with the tape on my lips. It wasn't really a big ...

 I have to say that it feels AWESOME to get back to the gym! There are not many people there at 5 AM, but that's OK!! And yes, what I do at the gym could easily do at home - walking and stretching. But I hope to add some weights in there soon. That's not the point - the point is that I've been going to the gym for 40 years! And I like it - it's part of my routine. And you know me - I like routine!

I have to admit that I was a slug yesterday, and ...

Another pretty productive day! I'll share all the stuff with you next week as I'm going through the show and tell before I forget about it! 

I worked on the All in a Row quilt for THREE days when we were at the retreat. Yep, I was that far behind, and one of the rows was a LOT of work. I'm still not quite as caught up as I'd like to be, but I'm working on it! OK -- so I'm NOT working on it at the moment. I have a few other pressing things ...

 Wow --- time is flying past at the speed of light! However, I'm so pleased with what I've accomplished here. 

I did bring the bell which you are supposed to ring whenever you finish something. I haven't rung the bell often, but I'm OK with that. I did cut a few things at the last minute and put them in the bag, and those are the ones that I worked on. Only to find that I forgot to cut one section, or I was missing one piece. However, I made HUGE progress on that one project, and ...

Yes -- I promised some homework pictures, and well - it's not going to happen this morning!

I had one of the most productive days that I've had in a long time. I was just like a snail - slow and steady. Or was that the turtle? The other day after the rain, I saw two snails trying to get into the house! At least they were climbing the front steps. I've never seen them on the steps before, and when I got home from my walk, one had crossed the step, and the other was gone. So those things ...

 Happy Canada Day!! 

I had the perfect shirt for today, but I've searched everywhere, and I can't find it!! It was orange (in support of our Indigenous peoples and it had CANADA on the front of it with a maple leaf. Now, what the heck could I have done with that shirt? Sigh................

I've had a project on my to-do list (NOT The Task Master who is wicked!) for a while. I need it to be done TODAY, as well as another project. Well, today is the day, and I'm making great progress on both. They ...

Oh my gosh -- we had so much fun at the Facebook Live event last night. I hope you were able to join us. YES -- I know I need to smile ALL THE TIME. My face just looks awful if I don't smile, but you forget! Oh well - it is what it is! 

Almost ready to start!

If you missed the presentation live, you can go back and watch it and see the fun stuff that happened while we did the Spectrum Quilt A Long. 

I'm not sure why I was so busy in the past - now it seems ...

 I'm not even sure where to start with the show and tell. I seem to have problems remembering if I posted the homework or if I didn't. I checked the blog, and I see that April was the last time I posted homework for this group. Sigh..................

Well, that's the bad news. The good news - you get two months' worth today. It's a small group, so there's not a ton of photos. 

These are the dreaded feathers! They were a lot of work, and I'm still working on mine. However, I LOVE this block ...

 OK -- I promise that tomorrow, I'll get started on all the homework photos. I have things to share with you from the Virtual Retreat. 

What fun we had! We got to meet Barb from Maryland!  Lots of familiar faces that stretched across the country and over to Germany. We discovered MANY things, including there's an imposter amongst us! That's all I'm going to say about it, except that we had a good laugh over it. 

We talked about everything and anything, including the FitBit and what it tracks and do they do anything with the data ...

 Do you ever have one of those days where everything you sew just seems to go together wrong? Yep - that was yesterday!

I had a great day with the two classes and the demo. I do a lot of prep work to make the class a success, but the students really make the class. It's their "show and share" that we ooh and ah over. Their questions make the presentation that more interesting and I swear they try to stump me! So far, I'm doing not bad in the answering question department!

But what happened? Well, I was ...

Well, I did NOT get much done in the sewing department yesterday, and I'm OK with that. I went shopping instead! And there were two reasons for that. I have to take my car in today for a recall on the fuel pump. That requires that the gas tank be ¼ or less. I was at a half tank, so I had some gas to burn off. I'm just at the ¼ mark, so hopefully, that works for them. 

It was a good trip as I found something that I didn't think I would find! Let's ...

I have to laugh because I got several comments on how to prolong the life of a gluestick. And all of them are probably good. However, I would bet that the one that I had was OLD - ancient even! I might have been able to revive it, but it's gone. But thanks for the tips! I still have about four more glue sticks, so they might go in the freezer or wherever I should put them. Gosh -- I'm amazed at all the tips and tricks for everything! Why don't I know these? 

And just like that, I ...