What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Someone had asked me a while back if I was excited about this trip. It's hard to get excited when there is so much work to be done and so many things happening between now and then. Even now, when the departure is fast approaching, it's hard to get excited. I'll be excited when I step on the plane. 

Yesterday was a very long day, but I'm happy to report that the project I was working on is done. Or I should say complete enough that it looks done. There's a wee bit of hand ...

 Lots of questions today! 

First, Lexi and Muprhy have a babysitter to keep them company. I'm afraid I'm going to come home to find them with many new bad habits! But that's OK. They will get short walks, so they won't be totally wild when I return. I HOPE! 

How will DH cope? I'm not sure, but one thing -- he will NOT be climbing the mountain. He is doing his thing for the days I'll be in high altitude. It wasn't even up for discussion! 

The portable office? Well, the only reason I ...

I packed the car, and I was off! The traffic on the way here was insane. All the traffic on the eastbound 407 was diverted to the westbound 401. That's where I was going, but seriously? One minute, you're going east, and then you're going west? I'm not sure what the issue was, but it was a complete mess. It only delayed me by 7 minutes, so all was good. 

The house is beautiful and features many high-tech amenities. I'm going to call it the QR Code house because there seem to be QR codes ...

OK -- so what happened to the weather? It's only 19°C this morning, cloudy, with rain expected. If it were me, I'd have all the AC units off, but I'm not alone in the house. I've turned the temperature up (or down), turned the fans off, and I'm still cold. I'd get my jacket, except my roommate is still sleeping! 

We are leaving today, and I'm glad that this retreat is a short one. OH - not because I haven't enjoyed myself. I've done a lot of sewing and met new friends ...

The first day of the show is over! It started with the awards ceremony, which was nice, as we got to see all the winning quilts on the slide presentation.

Waiting for the awards presentation to start

It's so good to be home and know I can sleep in my bed for a week. Although the days will be long as I attend some work-related classes/meetings, I'm just an attendee, so nothing has to be prepared! 

I was up early yesterday—I didn't sleep well, and I was in a different time zone. I hadn't eaten well the day before, or should I say at the party. There was tons of nibble food, and it was good, but I just wasn't super hungry. I had eaten a large breakfast that morning ...

The blog will be a bit late today for those who use it for breakfast entertainment. It was a busy day, and hey—we all want to see the pictures of the reason we flew out here. 

First—yeah—to Air Canada. They have reached a tentative deal, and the strike is averted. I was all checked in—at the back of the plane—row 57! Yep—it's a big plane. But no worries about it being canceled. 

Should I start with the evening and work back to the morning? Heck no -- you have to read about my day ...

I was WIDE AWAKE at 3:30 and waited patiently for my alarm to ring at 4:30, which it did, and then, well, I just had a good sleep, and now I'm behind! But that's OK. 

I didn't sleep well on the plane for some reason, but that's a story for another day. 

We had to be at the airport at 5 PM, so we had time for another adventure. We decided to drive on the west side of Maui. And we were of the mindset that we could drive entirely around that section, even ...

I lied—there is a post today. I have some time this morning before we have to vacate the condo, and well, I might as well write now!

First, here are a couple of comments about where we stayed. I HATE hotel rooms. Wait -- I'm OK if I'm alone, but if I had to share one room with DH, that would be bad. I get up early, and it's hard to be quiet in one room or to do anything with the lights off. But you have multiple rooms in a condo, so I vote for condos ...

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing the posts about the YOUNG quilt history, and I have more to share. However, I must tell you what's been happening in my life. I'm not home! In fact, while I'm in the US, I'm technically not on the continent!!

So where am I? I was "forced" to get out of the country and not tell a soul, not wanting to trust myself or anyone else. 

What happened was totally spontaneous, and I mean spontaneous. To clarify that a bit further, DH and I haven't been on a vacation together ...

Another day - another city! I'm in Sudbury now. The drive from North Bay to Sudbury was uneventful, and yesterday was a day to just hang out. 

I almost didn't have to scrap the windows on my car. Just missed the sun doing that job for me by a couple of feet. However, the weather here is stunning! I ran around all day without a jacket, and the sun was out for most of the day! And while they did have snow, as you can see a few remnants here and there, the weather gods were in my favor ...

It feels like I'm on a treadmill, and it's speeding up with no chance of getting off! But there's no need to panic - everything is fine. Just a tad busy. This is temporary, as December will be pretty much dead. DO NOT LAUGH! How do people do this all the time? 

The second day of training went well, and I think everyone walked out of the room filled with excitement, a bit of trepidation to remember it all, and so much work ahead of them to make samples!

I had all these plans when I got home ...

It's been a long time since I have missed a day of blogging. Even when traveling on the Camino, I always managed. However, there is a very good reason I missed, and it's called -- lack of time. 

I was fast asleep in my bed (two nights ago) when I was awoken at 11:30 PM. What awoke me? It was the sound of SAWING. Yes --- it sounded like someone was sawing something. What could they be sawing, and where were they? I've no idea. But it sounded like they were right next door to me. So, sawing ...

Oh my -- I almost forgot to blog this morning. I'm reading this LONG book and want to know how it ends, so I'm sneaking in any possible moments to finish it. It's over 1,000 pages on my phone, which is long, and I'm not sure it needs to be that long. I find it very confusing -- so many characters and so many details. I've no idea how the author was able to keep everything together. In case you're wondering, it's called Lethal White by Robert Galbraith. And yes -- I know that is ...

Thanks, everyone, for your comments about the memories. Yes -- I agree; while there are MANY trip "blogs," I'm only going to take the one -- the school trip to Edmonton, as most of the others don't involve me and won't be of interest. And tons of literature can probably be tossed. I'll be repacking later today, and hopefully, I have enough room within the weight limits. It's not much, but the paper is heavy, and I can't be over 50 lbs, and my samples are a priority. So I keep the pages, toss the rest ...

 AHA  - a helpful observation in the comments about my scrap quilts. I do not appear to be an "anything goes" scrap quilter! And for the most part, that is 100% true. I like to curate my colors, I don't mind mixing several colors together, but I've found that throwing all colors into one quilt can make it look - well, scrappy! But coordinating the colors makes it more cohesive. I guess it depends on which style you like. 

So -- I think I will sort by the scrap size I cut and then sub-sort by color -- or at least keep ...

It's so good to be home! Yes -- I'm now home for at least three weeks -- can you believe that? I can barely believe it, and the even better news is that my commitments are much fewer this month, so it'll positively feel like a vacation! I'm going to be totally lost! 

OK -- that's a lie since I have some long-arm quilting to do, blog posts to write, articles to put together, plans for the fall quilts, and a lot more paperwork, but I won't have so much happening on the weekends. Yeah!

We all ...

AH -- you make me blush! But thanks for the comments about the scrap quilts, but I have to say that I'm HOOKED! That influencer - Linda!

Now here's the thing - I was NOT interested in precutting my scraps - not in the least. I had tried it in the past by cutting some fat quarters into strips and I was totally uninspired and I'll be handing that to Diane soon. But this? I now have a couple of patterns in mind and we had a chat last night and I now have a couple more. 

So are you anxious ...

What a relaxing time we're having! It's so fun to be in a small group, so there is NO drama, no crisis, no over-talking, and well --- this is my favorite retreat! No need to name you -- you know who you are! We don't see each other often, so it's nice to catch up with family and mutual friends. 

Recently, we made desserts at the retreat optional, and so far, we've not had any dessert. Guess what? I do not miss it, and I feel better. So optional dessert is going to become the norm! 

I ...

WOW --- it feels great to be away in a very casual setting and have great friends to chat with! Yep -- I think I'm in quilting heaven, and that's OK. 

It took a while to get here as I had to wait for my 1:30 appointment for the ultrasound. And can you believe I was almost at the clinic when I realized I had left my wallet at home? And my health card was in my wallet, and so was my credit card to pay for parking. DUH!! I didn't have time to go back, so I ...