What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

One thing about decluttering your house is what to do with all the stuff! Most of us don't want it to go to the landfill, but I can see a lot of good things going there because people don't want to take the time to find a good home for things, nor do they want to take the effort to deliver them. 

When Yagana cleaned out M's stuff upstairs, about 10 or 11 boxes were sitting in the hallway. Five boxes remain, and I'll deal with those later. I sorted half of the boxes, and now ...

It's incredible how much time it takes to answer emails and type up some information. I ran around the house yesterday, measuring quilts, typing up lists, and gathering all the information required to order supplies for the concurrent show at Quilt Canada. 

Then I sent it off and realized later that it was a jumbled mess - it was legible, but not very logical. Now that I have all the correct (not guesswork) information, I will resend the list, and it won't take long to fix. 

I still have more email to organize - it's incredible how many things ...

 And the merry-go-round continues! But there is good news! My entry for the Trendtex Challenge is complete, it's in the mail, and is scheduled to arrive before the judging cutoff date. Not that I expect to win any awards for this quilt, but I'm just happy to get it in on time. 

I had planned to finish it before noon, but that didn't happen because I had a couple of other things on my plate, and I had to deal with phone calls and some emails first. And then I was madly sewing the final part of ...

I love Murphy. How could you not? BUT she's testing us these days. I had no problems falling asleep, only to be woken by her intense barking. Something's in the backyard. Good grief, so I took her upstairs and shut the bedroom door. She doesn't like being in a room with the door shut, and I eventually let her out because she gets extremely restless in a closed space. Thankfully, I fell back asleep. 

What was in the backyard? Probably a raccoon or a possum! 

This morning, as I was sitting down at the computer, she started ...

Murphy's thoughts are rubbing off on me! No, I didn't want to throw my sewing machine into the pond so someone could rescue it. But as she and I were walking yesterday, a thought popped into my head, and oh my goodness. I realized that if I added the embellishments in their two separate components, I could stitch them to the wall hanging. No glue required. It means sewing part of it with a sewing machine, which I like, as that's sturdier than glue. The second part of each embellishment can be hand-stitched. 

Thank you, Murphy, for ...

About that new author I mentioned yesterday - Iona Wishaw. Her latest book is coming out on April 29th, although Daphne noted that it's already out. If you live in BC, she's doing book tours and signings, and you should go! It's great to support our authors. I hope she can get a more extensive reach! I finished the book yesterday and I loved it. Lots of thinking and fact contemplating, which I love! 

Let's support our Canadian authors. And for our US neighbors, I do read lots of US authors, but I'm always excited to ...

Don't ask me about the comments on the blog or how they work. Sometimes people's names appear with the comment, sometimes comments are posted anonymously, and at other times, their status changes. Others want to comment, but they cannot. I have NO idea why. I should investigate the matter. Maybe there's some help feature that I can find. 

Good grief -- I just did a Google search and came up with this. Which I think most people know. I think the main thing is that you need a Google account to reply, and you must be logged in ...

Well, I was all fired up to hit the gym this morning, but then I remembered it's Good Friday, so the hours are changed. I finally got the hours (5 AM), only to realize that my Fitbit was about to die, so I'm taking a few minutes to start the blog while it charges slightly. Good grief -- all in the name of exercise! 

But it's more than exercise. It's about discipline, about wanting to stay healthy - both physically and mentally, and it's a great way to start the day. 

As I typed the word HIT ...

We had our Zoom session on digital cutters, and just when you think there is not much more to learn—oh, who am I kidding? I've only scratched the surface. But here is something that I made a while ago. Now that the recipient has received it and the group has seen it, I can share it with you. 

I have several digital cutters and used the Singer Momento to make this one. I found a project on the mySewnet website and modified it slightly to suit my needs. 

I hate giving a gift card. Well, it's not ...

Thanks to everyone, I have half of the books on my list. Well, I found 11 of 23 books at two used bookstores. The best part is that the two stores recommended had fantastic service. Allison the Bookman in North Bay, received my order, gave me a price, and I paid via transfer. The books are being picked up later today. Fast service. 

I had the same speedy service at Bearly Used Book Store in Parry Sound, and three more books were checked off my list. They got picked up yesterday. All of them will be on The Pony Express ...

I laugh about the subwoofer! It would be in my STASH room if it was bolted to the floor beneath the family room. It's going to stay where it is - behind the sofa. But it makes sense - it's a SUB woofer, and it's just an ugly-looking box. I've no idea why, for 20 years - it had to sit front and center in our family room. But that's a thing of the past. 

And if all goes well, the old TV and surround sound will be picked up in an hour! I have a few other ...

YES—I know I should shut my computers down once a week. I should attempt to do that on Saturday night and boot everything up on Sunday morning. It also helps that if you send an email with pictures to yourself, you actually touch SEND! Oh, I don't know how often I've done that. I "send" an email and wait for it to arrive, except it doesn't. Then I decide to resend it, only to find the draft on my phone. FARCE! 

Today stretches ahead of me with NO commitments. Yes, there is a Virtual Retreat today ...

WOW --- Rose didn't even need 20 questions! One guess! I'm impressed and how the heck did she zero in on that? Check out the comments - I won't say here in case you're still guessing. 

It's good that I'm not afraid of a blank page, also known as "blank page syndrome." I face a blank page every morning when I write the blog, and sometimes, it's very early in the morning, and sometimes, it's shortly after getting out of bed. I don't think I was much of a writer when I was ...

I had a feeling that yesterday was going to be a fantastic day, and it was. When I got to the gym, Joseph approached me and said that the first seven minutes of his video were for me. And sure enough - my new adventure was documented on the screen! Keep in mind that the videos he plays are usually extreme sports or other crazy things that people do. While this isn't exactly an extreme sport, it has some element of danger. Good grief - who am I kidding - there's an element of risk in crossing the street! 

The Monday ...

OH my -- I always get a chuckle from the comments, and I need to get back to answering them individually. I'm not a math nerd, so I don't calculate how much batting cutoffs get used in a year, but it is shocking when I see people throw those batting bits away. I "glue" them together for smaller projects like table runners, bags, placemats, etc. I am working my way through the batting cutoff closet, and once April is here, I plan to be on the long arm to try and finish up some community projects where I use ...

The week is done - but not quite. I have one Zoom this evening - an odd time, but all that would fit everyone's schedule. Be sure to check it out -- it's all about Free Motion Quilting AND thread painting, and my session is excellent. The store? Sew Productive in Acton! You'll find some valuable tips for those who want to up their game with free motion or just get in the game. 

So, I have almost a free day to do what I want. It's more like playing catchup than getting anything done! I've already tidied ...

I hate it when computer programs don't work how I think they should! But that's OK - there's always a workaround, and perhaps there is a better way, but for now, I'm OK with how it works. Things are good - my schedule, while not slowing down, is comfortable. 

I hung my calendar in the office to enjoy the photos and be reminded of my upcoming walking/hiking journeys. What exactly is the difference between the two? It doesn't really matter. I will enjoy January for a week, then switch to February for a week, and then ...

Delete, delete, delete - the number of spam comments seems to grow by the day. Today was all about license plates. Have I mentioned anything about license plates recently? NO. And digitizing - I  may have mentioned that, but it's all part of our new world filled with AI and bots that are supposed to do a better job than humans. Well, not exactly. I'm reading some articles about AI, and it seems that no one can even define what it is and how it's supposed to work. So, how are we going to figure it out? We won ...

Here's an interesting observation. I had a busy week last week, as have been the last several weeks. It's not so much about being super busy - two 2-hour presentations per day don't fill the day, but there's prep work for each and other bits of life. Usually, one of the two events would be held in the evening. 

While I had three shorter Zooms yesterday, they were more "casual" than during the week, and after 2 PM, the rest of the day was mine. What a huge difference that made in my day! I could actually ...

What a whirlwind day! I ran between Zoom and shoveling snow and Zoom. But there is good news—wait for it. 

This was after the first shovel in the morning. This picture was taken around 8 a.m. and the snow was covering up my handiwork as I finished. 

8 a.m.

Noon

Then, there was the shovel session at 3:00 p.m. Each time, it took between 40 - 50 minutes to shovel. Is ...