What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

So I was buzzing around the house trying to finish off the laundry, including making the guest bed, putting clothes away, and folding towels. Mission accomplished. I managed to get the filter and pump cleaned in the pond, and decided that the water level was a bit low, so I grabbed the hose and let the water run. I set a 30-minute timer (Alexa - the only thing we use it for in our house). Murphy had already been walked, but Lexi needed a walk, so after the cleaning crew arrived, I took her out for a thirty-minute walk.  

When I ...

Phew—yesterday was a whirlwind of a day, although I certainly took my time doing things, and now I'm going to pay the price this morning as I finish the tasks that I was supposed to finish yesterday!

There is nothing like having several open suitcases and mad packing! Actually, what I love is being able to change the number of suitcases I bring—I'm bringing samples—lots and lots of samples, so I have three suitcases. Two with samples, and one with clothes, which I still need to pack, and I'm leaving in three hours! 

There ...

I'm exhausted this morning! I seemed exhausted all day until it was time to sleep! I just woke up - the blog is going to be late!!!

Travel days are long, and even though yesterday was a short travel day, we lost three hours due to the time change. It was easy - we got up, caught the hotel shuttle back to the airport. We hung out at the lounge for a bit, and then I suggested we go down to the gate to try something new. 

DH is always grumbling about having to stand in the Zone 2 boarding lane ...

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments about the wedding. Can you believe that, even though I am always taking pictures, I have very few from that day! I have no pictures of myself and only three shots of the bride and groom. No pictures of any guests and none with other family members. What was I thinking? 

But they had a photographer who took a ton of photos, so I guess we'll have to wait until those come and try to get a few shots. 

We were busy that day, and yet we were not. I'm happy ...

Today is the day!!! The big wedding, but FIRST - I have to tell you about yesterday, and then you'll hear all about the wedding tomorrow. 

I'm not sure where the others were, but I asked the previous day if anyone wanted to go for a bike ride! I had a couple of takers, but when push came to shove, they were working out in the gym! But that's OK - I thoroughly enjoyed riding the bike. And sometimes being by yourself on a bike is best! 

Off for a ride

However, I had to sign a waiver, which ...

The best laid plans and then life happens! But yesterday was an amazing day, even if I didn't accomplish anything. WAIT  - I actually accomplished a very important thing -- nurturing a friendship, which is way more valuable than making things, except when you are supposed to be making things for your daughter's wedding! LOL. 

I had planned a lunch date with a friend, and yesterday was the only day we could make it happen this month. That "lunch" date turned into hours and hours of lively, energizing conversation. It was glorious, and I'm surprised we didn't get ...

OH MY --- I was exhausted when I got home. I had a decent sleep the night before, but it was short. Can you believe I went to bed at 6:30 last night and got up at 4:30 AM—that is a rarity for me. I had five minutes of awake time and 1 hour and 13 minutes of deep sleep! Phew --- I feel great this morning, and that was probably my best sleep score ever. Those sleep scores only give you excellent if the sleep duration is long. 

But let's step back and see what happened in ...

WOW --- what great stories of coincidences!!!! And, amazingly, our brain makes these connections! It's an amazing tool, and we need to use it or listen to it a lot more than we do!!

Good progress was made at the retreat house. I moved another bag of finished projects to the car last night, leaving one bag of projects and my knitting bag! We are here until Sunday, so I should be able to touch most of the stuff I brought. Well, let's see, since some of them are small, but still -- despite my panic packing at the end ...

OH MY --- there are so many stories of how people just "randomly" meet, and it's meant to be. The blog is going to be late, as I listened to another story of just such a situation. Life is so full of coincidences, or are they really coincidences? The next time a coincidence happens --- think about it --- that happened for a reason.  

I am not sure that I'll go for a walk this morning - at least not in the direction that we have been going - down the local road. The black flies are out, and, well, I had a ...

I know—I said NEVER, and will likely be saddled with fleece and flannel forever!!! But more progress in that department in a minute. 

As I surveyed what I'm working on at this retreat, the title for the blog came to mind. By poor, I mean someone with not much of a budget. I finished cutting all the fleece into usable bits. A job that most people would have just said no to and tossed the fleece. I get enjoyment from it. 

Then this happened. 

I had to hand-stitch the facing around the collar of this jacket that I ...

Thanks for the suggestions on computers—I'll look into them because I'd love to get the old computer off the second desk! It takes up a lot of room! 

There was a lot of trepidation in the house as I unboxed the second HP printer. This time, I took pictures as I unboxed it. There's that heavy paper strap around the shrink-wrapped printer. And it worked like a charm. No need to bend deep to pull the printer out of the box. I was very impressed. 

Pull on the heavy cardboard strip to remove the printer

Then ...

 OH MY GOODNESS --- Someone mentioned in the comments that Southern California is already in fire season. Our thoughts are with you, and we hope there are no serious fires. We are so at the mercy of the weather in all we do and how we live our lives. 

I could go down that slippery slope of climate change, but I won't. All I have to do is think back on my short life to see that the weather is NOT the same as it was when I was a kid! 

Well, what a day it was yesterday. It was ...

Have you ever had one of those days? You have things planned, and all the tools and supplies are in place, and then BAM - something goes wrong, and the rest of the day aligns with that? That was yesterday!

The first item on the agenda was to set up the new printer so I could print the pattern I needed to make the blocks for the class on Saturday. How hard can that be? It's a printer. Right? Wrong! 

I unboxed the printer, which I thought was very cleverly packaged. The printer was on its side in the box ...

After getting some feedback from people, I'm glad M is using the trim from her dress for the wedding. Someone else dismantled their lace wedding hat, so her daughter could use it to wrap her bouquet! It was worth the four hours to take it apart!

To answer the question about the community project quilts, the group of 11 I'm working on is NOT among the ones Diane made. Someone did me a favor and picked up a bunch of scraps I was using to make scrap quilts for more community project quilts. She was looking for scraps ...

OH MY --- someone mentioned in the comments about Mary Ellen's book -- "It's OK if you sit on my quilt." Indeed, there were NO quilt police for her! Mary Ellen was quite the spitfire - I heard that from the shop owner where I used to hang out. And definitely, there were no quilt police in Mary Ellen's life. It's a great book. All three of her books that I have (well, technically, now two) are amazing. The amount of detail, flexibility, and freedom she gives is refreshing. 

We need NEW books like that. Books that give you ...

I see I am not the only one who pushes the long arm to the limits! Yes—you can get away with minimal excess on the backing, BUT only if it is your quilt and you are the operator! It's fiddly, and you must babysit that thing along all the edges! And sometimes things happen, like when the pin (I no longer use clamps) that holds the elastic grip on the side gets caught on the machine bed. I had to do a wee bit of ripping yesterday. But not a big deal because I was standing there and ...

OK --- I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face, and I can't help it. They are tears of joy, but still. And even when I got ahold of myself and then came back to edit, these pictures still bring tears to my eyes. 

I just had a quick peek at Facebook before I started writing, and I spotted this post. I knew my nephew, who recently got his pilot's license and bought a small plane, wanted to fly from Winnipeg to visit with my parents in North Battleford. It's about 840 km. 

When I talked ...

Happy Mother's Day

I must say, it feels great to get back to sewing, and, well, I just picked a "random" project to work on. Actually, it's on my Visual To-Do list under UFO, so I'm allowed to work on it! I had picked five projects under the UFO category, and my plan is to finish them all this year. They are in various states of completion. 

When I first started the sew-along quilts, in year two (2004), we did something different. Instead of choosing one large quilt, we picked two small quilts from a four-season collection ...

I received some shocking news yesterday while I was at the gym, and big changes are coming for me! OK -- I'm exaggerating, but for me, it will be a big change. I will not be like my parents -- I will embrace the change, although it's very upsetting. What happened? 

I learned that Joseph, the most amazing spin class instructor, was LET GO!!! No one seems to know why, and I don't have his contact information, but I'm going to try to find it so I can reach out to him. I'm also going to write ...

Oh my --- What a crazy day, but it was a great day!! Three things went off without a hitch! 

I was up early and had those suitcases loaded in the car - the girls were NOT happy that I was leaving without taking them for a walk. More on that in a bit. 

The drive was great even though there was a lot of traffic. A lot of truck traffic, but no accidents, so that was a bonus. I didn't have time for accidents or major slowdowns. 

The Thames Valley Quilt Guild is a great group of people, and OH ...