What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Yep - today, Bear and M will be leaving. They have a mid-morning flight to catch. I'm sad to see them go - it's been great fun to have them here, even though Bear has totally thrown my routine off! He gets one more walk this morning before he has to be bundled up into his carrier - he's NOT going to be happy about that. 

M and Little Bear

Yum!!! Slurp!  Yum!!

He is so darn slow. No - that's not true exactly. He's unpredictable. One day, he runs the entire time we're out, and the next ...

It's Christmas Day!! How did this happen? Where did the year go? OK - we won't go there! It's been an extraordinary year!

Here's a family photo to share with you. And why do those dogs outshine the people? 

Merry Christmas from Lexi, ME, M, Bear, and Murphy

Yes - a family member is missing, but he'd never opt to be in the photo. We'll just pretend that he's taking the picture - NOT! 

At first sight, this looks like a normal photo. But notice that I'm holding onto Murphy, so she doesn't bolt ...

 It's a bit too early to start reflecting on what happened this past year. And I'm sure that many don't even want to go there. 

However, here's some interesting food for thought. Two days ago, I finished my 2020 challenge with The Conqueror. It initially started out as a cycling goal of 3,000 miles for 2020. When things started shutting down, I lost my spin class mileage, and my cycle trip was canceled. I needed to rethink that goal. I started counting my walking mileage. I did feel like I was double-dipping on this, but ...

Can you believe that Christmas is just a few days away? At my house, Santa's little elves are busy quilting and binding. And they are almost done! Essentially, all that's left to get done before Christmas is to finish writing my Christmas cards. I know - I'm late. But better to be late than never. 

The T-shirt quilt is on the long arm, and I need to make the binding and quilt it later today. It likely won't get picked up until after Christmas due to the pandemic, but I'll meet my commitment. I have the ...

We had a blast at the Virtual Retreat -- AGAIN!!!  A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello, or stayed to sew and chat, and contributed to the merriment! I LOVE virtual retreats. They may not be my most productive days, but they do help to pass the time. 

We got technology tips - thanks to France and Morgan for their input. We got tips on where to buy fabrics, what to do during the extended lockdown, a source for recipes, thanks to Anita, and we got to see a cool steam iron (thanks to Susan) and a ...

Have you noticed as you get older that your body reacts differently to different things? I used to have zero issues with scents. The strongest scents wouldn't faze me at all. Then I noticed that I cannot have my clothes washed in ANY kind of scented laundry detergent. Just can't hack it. So now we have two boxes of laundry detergent - the scented and the unscented. Once the scented is gone - there will be no more in our house. Why do they make this stuff so strong? I can be walking outside and smell when someone is drying ...

Every once in a while, you have a day that you don't want to repeat. Yesterday was such a day. Oh - don't get me wrong, things got done, and I could check them off my list. It was just a wee bit too tight on the timing, is all. 

I'm happy to report the magazine quilt is gone! I should have taken a picture of it sitting on the doorstep. I had to babysit it while it got quilted. Well, that's not really true. There were many threads on the top, so I was cutting threads ...

 One Christmas present ready! I have finished my bear rug for my little nephew. I used Ira Rott's pattern. The bear head is all made with 3 shirts that my husband was no longer wearing and I just used some fabric from my quilting stash for the eyes and nose.

After quilting, I trimmed the piece to ...

 As you know, I had to make a quick trip to Vancouver to take Bear home to be with his family. I couldn't convince M to let him stay with us, and once she was over her quarantine, she could come and get him. Oh well, I tried. So now, I'm going to self-isolate for 14 days. Not a full out quarantine, but I'm going to stay away from people. 

I thought I'd share a few shots of things from my quick trip. I wasn't worried about the pandemic and travel. I wore my mask ...

 There is NOTHING like a sewing day. Even if it's getting together on-line. I have a feeling that with the colder weather not that far away, people are going to embrace Zoom (or whatever platform they are using) a whole lot more readily. No shoveling the car out of the snow, no wet boots, no frozen butt on a cold car seat (even with seat warmers!), no frozen hands. Oh yes - I'm going to love sewing in my space this winter with Zoom!

A lot got done yesterday and a good part of it happened while I sewed ...

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I want to say that I'm truly blessed. Why? Somewhere along the way, I learned to always look at the glass as half full. Oh - trust me - I face issues just like everyone else. I've just learned to NOT worry about stuff that I cannot change. I don't complicate my life, and I'm perfectly happy to use what I have instead of coveting something that I don't have. 

Oh - I'm not a saint by any means. I have days when the world is a big bad place, and I want to stay in ...

I finished the audiobook just before our Monday sewing started at 10 AM! Riveting right to the end. I wonder if Mary Kubica's other books are as riveting? One thing I noticed about my Libby app. There are times when I open it up, and I get a message, "skip the line - download this book now!".  I wonder why I get those messages? For good behavior? For finishing and returning a book early? It's happened twice now. I didn't accept the book as I have four waiting to read, and four is plenty enough for me.

Remember ...

Another day is done! It's weird to say that because it makes it sound like each day is a chore or something that has to be endured! But that's not the case at all. I'm just amazed at how time is marching forward! I want time to slow down, and yet I don't! I go to bed looking forward to each day because something exciting is bound to happen the next day, or I have plans for what I'm going to do.

While I did manage to get some work done, the morning was crazy ...

Time marches on, and so do I! I'm making good progress on my virtual walking tours. Don't worry - I'll let you know when any major milestone happens! I'm going to have to think about my next virtual challenge soon! OK - I'm lying - I'm not going to start a new one until next year. OK - I might change my mind after I finish Route 66 in November. There are some shorter virtual walks, and I might do one of those or several of them until the end of the year. There's another long one ...

Gosh --I love Zoom classes! We all get to sew, chat, ask questions, share our show and tell, eat a hot lunch (if we want), and well - it's just the best. We had another fantastic Monday sewing session via Zoom. I would feel so disconnected without that weekly get together as this sewing group has been in existence for many years. I'm going to say that it's been close to 20 years? Oh yes - it must be because M used to sleep under the cutting table on days that she came with me. 

The members have changed ...

The morning did not start out as I had planned. I was merrily sewing away and making significant progress. However, when I went to join A to B, it was WRONG - totally backward!! It would appear that I was a bit dyslexic this morning, and EVERYTHING I had sewn had to be ripped out. OK - I confess, I did say a bad word or two, and then I ripped. So when I go back to sewing, everything is laid out exactly how it needs to be sewn. We all have those days!

Thankfully, I had only sewn for a half-hour ...

How many people want to celebrate their birthdays? I do!! It's not a big birthday this year, but I'm just glad that I'm around one more year and I expect to celebrate many more birthdays. My grandfather lived to 100, and we seem to have great longevity in our family genes. That's my plan as well. So, no - you don't need to know how old I am. You just need to know that I'm still enjoying each and every day, and I can't wait to have some fun today.

Even my Fitbit knows ...

What a super day we had yesterday. I don't think we had any new faces on our Zoom Virtual Retreat, but gosh, it's so nice to check in with everyone. We had people connect all the way from Germany to Cochrane, Alberta. Hello everyone!!!! So great to see everyone and thanks for stopping by to chat. I feel like I really know you all!!!

Don't be shy - you don't have to stay and sew, just pop in to say HI. It's great fun to get to know some of you a little bit better, and ...