What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 As I was reviewing the pictures this morning, I realized something. Murphy does NOT have a single blanket/quilt/mat that she can call her own. How did that happen? Lexi will have to write a story about poor Murphy, and then there's the poop incident. Yes - Lexi will need to get busy. 

I'm trying to keep up with my e-mail. I'm hovering around 700 in my inbox. I hope to get that even lower, but right now, I'm managing to keep it at 700 - it works for me at the moment. I have a TON ...

 Can you believe that it's already the 14th of January? Two weeks have passed since the new year began, and where did the time go? I looked at my calendar, and YIKES - I have classes starting TOMORROW. That means the marathon begins NOW. 

My routine got a bit turned around yesterday morning. There was a thin coat of ice on some sidewalks, and I was NOT risking a fall with my crazy dogs. So I sat at the computer and did e-mail instead of going for a walk. Then I walked in the afternoon - twice! Once with the girls ...

It's going to be a LONG day today. I did not sleep well at all. I heard some terrible news about a friend's son - I'll be attending a virtual funeral today. At one point, I woke up with tears streaming down my face. That was after I finally got to sleep. And Murphy, who gladly welcomes everyone into our house without so much as a squeak (OK - that's not entirely true), decided to alert us to animals in the backyard - not once, not twice, but THREE times. So if I fall asleep -you'll know why ...

 I have two posts this morning. The second post, which you'll find right after this one, is the last call for class sign-ups for this year's ongoing classes. The clubs are full. Well, as full as I'm going to let them get. I believe I've been in touch with all the clubs except the machine embroidery and the EQ8. I've made the distribution lists - I just need to write the verbiage. 

When I was sorting through some of M's old school stuff, which is still hanging around in the office, I discovered a folder ...

The sun was out in all its glory yesterday, and I took full advantage of it! I moved a sewing machine upstairs to Studio U. And after I finished my project for work (on the laptop), I moved over to the sewing machine. I can't share what I'm sewing with you - well, not yet, but what fun to sew in the sun! 

It was so warm in that room, I thought it was summer! I finished the one quilt block that I was working on and even cut out and sewed part of the next one! How about ...

 Yes - I got photos for you today. A full tour of Studio U. I haven't been sewing a lot up there - there isn't even a sewing machine at the moment, but on some of the nice sunny days, I hope to move up! And speaking of the sun? Where has the sun been hiding? There was some sun yesterday when I went for my walk, but it's been pretty cloudy lately!

Did I get my e-mail woes solved? No. That was after spending two hours on the phone with Microsoft. At least the support person got my ...

I was busy all day and don't seem to have a lot to show for it! That darn pattern!! I got an offer from Patti, a pattern designer and writer extraordinaire, to check over my pattern. How could I refuse that offer? And sadly, she found some errors. I swear that we get so close to the details that you can no longer see what is right and wrong. 

I've made some changes and will proofread the darn pattern ONE MORE TIME this morning. Good grief. I'm so tired of it. 

A HUGE THANKYOU to Patti for ...

Another GREAT day! I was listening to the radio this morning, and they were talking about being a morning person or a night person. I have to say there is nothing better than getting up before everyone - a new perspective on the day, no baggage from the day before, and the whole day stretching before you!

I get it that night people could have their own reasons, but this is what works for me, and I LOVE getting up early.

I also look forward to checking the stats on my Virtual Challenges since they update overnight. Small things amuse me ...

It was a super productive day! I love those kinds of days. If you're like me, you just can't sew fast enough to keep up with the ideas in your head. And these are NOT new ideas. These are just things that I find around the studio that I think will only take a few hours to finish, and well, days later, I'm still working on them. 

I decided it was time to get something finished instead of just thinking about finishing it or advancing the project.

The first thing to deal with was changing that light ...

I just don't do well with lack of sleep. I had TWO naps yesterday. The first was in the gazebo and lasted a couple of hours. At about 4 PM, the gazebo gets sun, and at about that same time, the lounger on the deck is now in the shade, so my second nap was there. I had a great sleep last night, and I'm ME today! Not Miss Grumpy Pants!

Since I was in the gazebo a bit earlier than usual, I had to turn my chair. It's so protected by trees - it really is a ...

I really do need to create a list of lost items. Not that that is going to help me find the missing items, but at least I'll know what I can't find and I can celebrate when I find the darn things. Like those bodkins and the doll patterns and a person's phone number and, and. I might have a stab at creating that list later today.

I actually got excited yesterday. Why? Because I had a couple of errands in the afternoon and another Zoom call. I had THINGS to do! I had three things to ...

The weather is just as out of sorts with the world as everything else. One day, we're sweltering in the heat (well, not quite - but it was warm), and this morning, I turned the heat back on in the house. I won't be sitting outside any time soon which is probably a good thing since I have so much that I want to do and there just aren't enough hours in the day.

I don't think I posted the two blocks that I worked on last week for our Christmas Fig sew-along.

There were a lot ...

I'm totally fascinated by all things sociological and there is plenty of that going around at this moment in time. Only bad news sells and there's definitely plenty of that going around. And there's plenty of advice to be had everywhere. While those three statements are somewhat random, they are definitely connected.

Like almost everything, there are fixes for the symptoms of the issues that do nothing to address the root cause or that make things seem worse than they really are. I think we're too much about short term thinking - get rid of the symptoms ...

What do you do when you can't sleep? Head to the gym of course. The darn thing opens at 4 AM and while I wasn't there at 4, I was there earlier than usual. I'm feeling great these days and my energy level seems to be way up there. Of course at the end of the day when I'm done - I'm done!

I don't have time today to show you what I did yesterday, but it was a pretty productive day as well. It's funny how our brains work. I remember years ago ...

Last night after we finished, we zipped back to Hobby Lobby to pick up some patterns as they were on sale. Then we wanted something very quick for dinner so there was a chicken restaurant right there. We popped in. I posted a picture and it turns out that this restaurant has a certain political position. OH NO -- DAMNATION!!!!

This country is very political. I'm now informed for the next time. And that's all there is for politics. I try to keep out of it. It's just ugly all around.

So I went out for a walk ...

The Quilting Posse (our little group of road trippers - that would be Ronda, Laura, Shelly and myself) had a day out yesterday. We don't get out that often, but we like to have fun when we do. Our normal day trips to the US are crammed with activities (like Row by Row) and we don't get a chance to have a leisurely stroll around some places. Yesterday was the leisurely stroll day. I didn't need much and I didn't buy much - I do want to support my local quilt shops. Matter of fact, we didn't ...