What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I'm excited to hear I wasn't the only one that loved the York Heritage Quilt Show. Sadly -- it's over, but there's so much in the quilt world to keep us entertained! The organizers should be very pleased as the show was well organized and had lots of entertainment. 

I'm back home. I finished up at Thimble Quilts and Sewing Company (Windsor) around 4 PM and headed home. In the SNOW!!! What's that all about? I heard it was supposed to snow yesterday EVENING, not in the morning. Around 11 AM, I went out to ...

I'm HOME!!!!! I got home just after 11 PM, which was good considering that I didn't leave until after 6:30 PM. Everything got crammed into the car -- how do I ever travel by plane? I guess I just take a lot less stuff! But this was what I faced all the way home. 

A lone foggy night

Don't worry -I was in a parking lot when I took that picture. But as the afternoon wore on, the fog rolled in, and it stayed. It's still foggy this morning. Thankfully, there wasn't too much traffic ...

Someone offered a good suggestion about the charging cords: to have them in a separate bag. This would work IF I had duplicates of the darn things, which I do not. I should buy a second power supply for the laptop, but I don't have a second charger for my Fitbit, and I have no plans to buy one. So if I label the darn phone charger instead of quickly grabbing what I think is the right one, I should be OK. It's the first time EVER that I've made that mistake!

So the worst day of ...

 Oh my -- it would appear that I'm back in the swing of things, and it only took one day! I have guild presentations this month -- some on Zoom and some in person. I have to travel to a quilt show (Courtepoint Quebec Salon 2022) for work. Oui -  in French, no less, and there are new store openings, classes, demos, and lectures to prepare! Yikes --- I knew this was all coming, so I'm not surprised. It just seems that I went from ZERO to 100 in 60 seconds. 

Actually, it's not all that bad -- it's just a ...

I have to laugh as I looked at the title of yesterday's post -- The eleventh quilt is done! The deadline for this particular push on the Quilts of Valour quilts is November 11. Yet the date yesterday was October 1? How is it that I finished something more than a month in advance? You know --- finishing the last quilt at the 11th hour? I think the old Elaine is still walking the Camino! However, I want to do a second grouping of 11 quilts, and that one may be down to the wire!

Anyway -- something has changed in me ...

 It was bound to happen. I've been so lucky with all the bushwhacking I've been doing. Zero issues with plants that didn't agree with me. 

However, yesterday, I decided to explore a trail that wasn't good, and now I'm in trouble. Let's start at the beginning. 

I thought I'd go geocaching one more time, but I got about 3 KM from the house when I realized I did NOT have a pen. OK -- so maybe I'll go exploring and see if there's anything easy to get, and I'll go today ...

 Oh my -- they will have to pry all ten of us out of this house tomorrow! In the past, we've consistently filled the retreat house with the maximum number of people, and we were pretty happy, although we were always cramped, especially for sewing. Then during the pandemic, only a few of us could go, and we liked the peace and having plenty of room to work. 

So this house can sleep 12, and we weren't sure if we wanted to fill it, so we came with ten. But it could easily hold twelve people, and for sewing ...

So if I were to attend a quilt retreat in heaven, I would want it to be a super retreat. Well, I'm not in heaven, but I think we hit the jackpot in retreat houses. Yes -- I'm on quilt retreat again, and this one got planned simply because this new house opened, and I WANTED to be part of the action. 

If I were looking for the ideal retreat, this is it. It's hard to find fault with anything here. You can check it out - it's called Spring House Retreat. Let's see -- it's ONE ...

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 ...

It would almost appear that I've lost my commitment to quilting! I haven't - but I'm just trying to get other things done and show you (and me) that I'm not a one-trick pony! 

I walked the girls yesterday and did a few chores around the house because now that things are looking great, they have to stay that way! And then I was upstairs to see what I could do about that massive stack of receipts. Yes -- I could have taken the lot and dumped it in the box that goes to the shredder, but that ...

I MADE IT!!! It was easy to get that last 5 KM in and done before 9 AM! I've finished walking the Pacific Crest Trail -- at least virtually. 

I'll write more about it when I get home. 

Alas, the weekend has ended, and I'm on my way home this morning. It was a great weekend; I learned a lot, and I could pass along some of my knowledge, which is always great. As they say, you will retain 95% of what you teach! So I'm always looking for a teaching moment. 

And we've been so ...

 Yesterday was about as close to a perfect day as you could get! The temperature was perfect; there was zero humidity, and the sky was blue with little wind. I had no appointments or immediate deadlines, so I got to do what I wanted, and well -- it doesn't get any better! 

I hopped on my bike to get some KMs. I went zipping around the city again, and I swear it was like being a kid. I was out exploring! There is so much more open to you on a bike than in a car. First, in a vehicle ...

 As you probably figured out, I'm in a different time zone -- 3 hours difference, and it's going to be hard for me to get the blog to those who read first thing in the morning unless I write at night and, well, sometimes that won't be possible! But that's OK. 

We had a great day here. And who are WE? That would be my Aunt Yvonne and me. This is the first time there has just been the two of us. In the past, our entire family used to come -- that was MANY years ago. Uncle ...

Another box of crap bites the dust! And I was done by NOON. I was actually excited about the prospect of getting rid of the stuff. And before I knew it, the box was full again. I was tempted to keep working, but I had other things on the agenda, and I didn't want to exhaust myself with this task. But now I'm eyeing the table in the office and guestimating the number of boxes it'll take to clear it! I'm not out of the woods yet, but let's see what we can do. 

Here ...

Mother Nature is playing with us! We've not had the best spring, as there were lots of cooler days with loads of wind and rain. It's been nasty at times. However, the last two days have been PERFECT. The temperature was warm enough to walk outside in a T-shirt, no wind or very little, no rain -- it's been perfect. So much so that it's been a challenge to stay inside at the quilting retreat. And I'm OK with that. 

Right after breakfast, I decided to go for a walk, and it's always better to ...

Is anyone having trouble getting my blog notification? Susan has been using the e-mail link on the blog, and it seems to be coming later in the day than usual. I'm not sure what is happening there, but hopefully, you are all getting the links OK. 

Day Two of the retreat has come and gone. OH MY --- what a great group of people. We have someone new on this retreat, and it's her first retreat with a small group. You always worry if the new person will fit into the mix, and I'm happy to report that ...

 Guess what?? Yep -- we're back at a quilting retreat. YES --- I know that I'm fortunate to be able to go as often as I do. When we first started going to quilt retreats, we used to rent the same house for every retreat, and it was the same group of people, and things were easy! 

When that first house closed down, we moved to another one that was a bit closer, and that was fun. Then that one closed down, but we found another one even closer. This time, we're at a different one -- we first came ...

What's with all the rain? It's raining cats and dogs out there, and I'm not sure I want to go out. I don't think the girls will be too excited either. We'll see how the walk progresses this morning. 

So my French serger event got pushed back one week, and well, I was bad -- really naughty as a matter of fact. Instead of forging ahead and finishing the presentation to be ready for next week, I played hookey! It was a beautiful day (well, mostly), so I decided it was time to tackle the FINAL ...

 I hope you watched that video clip on the weather that I posted yesterday. Well, guess what? Yesterday was a PLUS ONE day, and it was glorious. 

It was the last day to get the remaining points for the monthly geocaching challenge. Yes -- I left it to the last day. I, well, I just didn't make it a priority before then. I knew where I wanted to go and what to do but was waiting for the right day, which was yesterday. All I can say is, what an adventure!

I started by parking the car in the little ...

 Thank you -- thank you!!! 

I love all the comments you leave, and I'm so glad to hear that I am an inspiration. But here's the even better part -- YOU are an inspiration to me! The blog has allowed me to reach many people and meet new people, but that was never the intention, and I have no desire to ever monetize the blog. This is about community, this is about commitment, and it's all about fun! And we are all learning from each other!!

Thankfully blank pages don't scare me because often, that is the first ...