What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

Thanks to everyone for the comments about prewashing fabrics. I do not add any products (soap, detergent, or fabric softeners) when prewashing. I followed instructions on a package that said to prewash and wondered what others do! What does the manufacturer mean when they say prewash—detergent or not? But the instructions also specified not to use fabric softener! 

It's interesting, but I was told years ago that dryer sheets have massive amounts of chemicals in them, including petroleum, which can end up staining (permanently) your clothing! We haven't used dryer sheets in years. Nor ...

NO --- I do not feel out of control today, but have you ever experienced that? You have no control over your life. Things are just piling up, and you're not happy? People driving you made? Deadlines looming? OK -- so I often feel out of control. Do you know what makes it all go away? 

By DOING! How many times have we agonized over doing something? The deadline looms closer, and we're still feeling out of control. Have you ever noticed that writing a list of the steps, starting the project, or at least getting organized will immediately calm ...

It's amazing what a little FOCUS can do in a day! I have awesome photos to share with you, and I am so excited! 

I'm not sure if it helped, but I listened to an audiobook and listened to the entire thing from start to finish yesterday -- about 7 hours. The book is called Counting the Cost by Jill Dugger. I found the book fascinating - not because of who the author was. I've never watched a single episode of their shows and know nothing about them. 

There were two things I took away from this book -- the ...

Have you ever had a day that if you kept a gratitude journal, the day would overflow? That was yesterday! So many GOOD things happened. 

There has been one thing about mySewnet software that has niggled at me since I started to use it. Could I figure it out on my own? Well, sort of, but I just couldn't get the function to work properly. After watching a YouTube video --I got it! Watch me roll now!! 

I figured out the daily puzzle on the Advent Calendar. While DH was home, he was busy, so I attempted it on ...

I caved and looked at the third clue for the 10th puzzle in the Advent Calendar. Even after getting a hint from someone also doing it, my brain just wouldn't go down that route. Even though we had a similar type of clue earlier, well, it just wasn't happening! I get it, and it makes perfect sense. At least we figured out the first part of the clue, so we're not complete idiots! 

The puzzle that almost brought me down

I was in a bit of a huff yesterday, not because anything significant happened. OK -- DH did NOT solve the EXIT Game puzzle before he went to bed. So we attempted it again in the morning, and we were stumped. I had to check the first clue, and OMG. You have to be kidding me. We missed something so blatantly apparent that it put me in a funk for part of the day! 

So last night, when we opened the next room, it was with great trepidation. And we fiddled, and we fiddled, and we chatted about it. And we ...

I spent the entire morning in front of the computer. My entire morning consisted of about 2 hours as I had to have lunch early because of a dentist appointment at Noon. In those two hours, I cranked out a lot of e-mails, but I'm behind, and I still have homework to send out. Well, it's incredible how much time all those little details take. 

I'll just keep plugging away at it, and as the classes are coming to a close for this year, hopefully, those follow-ups will get less and less, but then I have to ...

Oh my -- how quickly time flies! You get up to do one errand, hoping you can do one more, and then time runs out. So, I'll make a list and do it later this afternoon. It's going to be a busy day!!!

I persevered with my paper piecing. I haven't done paper piecing in a while, and it seemed I made more mistakes than necessary! But I did get the hang of it - I just found the process long and tedious. The old me would have abandoned it and moved to something easier. The new me - said ...

I had a headache yesterday, which is extremely RARE for me - thank goodness. I hear stories from people who have migraines and headaches every day - I'd go mad! Thankfully, it wasn't a terrible headache, so I could still "function." Or so I thought. 

I was attempting to prepare for my paper-piecing class this morning and listening to an audiobook. As I said - it was a mild headache. Well, I think I made every paper-piecing mistake in the book! I stitched on the wrong lines, placed the fabrics incorrectly, and sewed the wrong fabric in place - so, needless to ...

I'm back home today, even though the rest of the group is still at the retreat house. Based on my and DH's schedules, it made sense for me to come home. I have two days to regroup while he's traveling, and then I'm off again. Only three more weeks and the travel for the year will be done! Yeah!! Thankfully, none of the trips are long, but it means coordination because of the girls. If we didn't have dogs? Well, we'd probably never be home!

I'm sorry to miss the last two days ...

Even though I was at the retreat all day and had no other commitments, I did NOT seem to accomplish much, and that's OK. While we are at a sewing retreat, it's technically a vacation, and I'm free to do whatever I want!

When I first arrived (it seems like ages ago), I spotted a stack of jigsaw puzzles. Some of the furniture has been moved around, with a nice table beside those puzzles. After a quick perusal through them, I pulled out a 1000-piece puzzle. None of these 350 ones for me! 

I started by laying ...

 Have you ever had something to do but say you'll leave it for the morning. Then you can't sleep, so after lying there for a while, you finally get up to do it? Then when you wake up, you feel crappy from lack of sleep? Yep -- that's my morning. Thankfully, I'm a morning person, so I don't feel crappy for too long! I can't imagine how people cope if it takes them several hours to wake up as part of their routine!

By the way, I learned vinegar is great for unclogging glue tips ...

We still have beeping in our house. It's not the smoke or carbon detector. I have a suspicion it's the sensor in the side door that needs a new battery. It's powered by something, so there must be a battery. 

One more thing to deal with! It's these niggly little things that are time-consuming because you have to figure out how to fix them! And yes -- I checked the thermostat -- the batteries are fine. 

My stretch session was excellent. I sure wish they would have classes for stretching. I know -- it's easy to do at ...

 OK -- so what has happened to the weather? It's like someone turned on the faucet, and the hot water heater is broken. It's cold and rainy! I see it's overcast again this morning, and it feels like minus 2! Thank goodness I didn't bother bringing my bike! Although the weather gets better as the week goes along!

So I'm making progress on the stuff that I brought. Perhaps slower than I would like, but some of this has a learning curve, and well, I'm learning. I'm OK with that. And a lot of ...

Well, I'm a big liar! When I wrote that my space is in good shape, if I had been Pinocchio, I couldn't have sat in front of the computer as my nose would have been too long! 

OK -- so it's not that bad, but there are definitely things that need to be dealt with, and so I  will be right there with you as we clean up our spaces. This time next year --- I'll have EVERYTHING under control! I can hardly wait! 

I am being truthful when I say that NO MAJOR issues need to be ...

 I woke up super excited! It's a New Year, and we have another 365 days to do stuff! This time last year, I was deep in the throes of decluttering, and I don't have to declutter today! WHAT?? No, I have some stuff to put away, as I wanted to start the year with all three main surfaces clear. That's NOT quite the case, and I need to do some machine embroidery. 

Since I won't have any decluttering tips today -- here's a link to last year's blog where you can get some tips and ...

It's New Year's Eve. Another year has passed, and what do I have to show for it? There are lots, but I tend NOT to keep track of what I accomplish in a year. Well, that's not entirely true -- I know how many KMs I've walked/ridden my bike or spin class, I know how many novels I've read, and I know how many quilts I donated (more or less) and well, I'm so highly motivated that I don't really need to know how much else I got done. It was a lot ...

I see Torry is ripping through the fifth book of The Seven Sisters series while I'm still on number three. OK -- so neither of us really liked one of the sisters, but perhaps she will grow on us. I was surprised this morning to see that I'm almost 50% through the third one, and the historical fiction part and the character-building just pull you in. Yep -- they are romantic, no doubt about it, and that's OK. It's very healthy to read outside your usual genre. 

And here's some GOOD news. I just checked, and the ...

I see my camera was NOT working at all yesterday. OK -- it was working, I just didn't take many pictures, and the ONE I have to share with you today isn't even up-to-date!

I did a wee bit of sewing in the morning and went for an extra long walk in the afternoon. I met my neighbor, whom I don't often see these days, so we quickly chatted to catch up. Yes -- it was a 17+ KM day yesterday! That leaves me with 110.5 KM and 6 days to make it happen. At this rate and ...

What a great Christmas Eve we had! I wasn't sure how many would be able to make the Zoom call, but because of the crazy weather, a few showed up because their plans had changed. Family members got caught in the highway shutdowns and had to make some crazy detours, and we all cheered when they got home! As usual, I went to bed, and some were still on the call. 

Sorry -- I'm tired and need my sleep! 

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope your day goes as planned! I bought tickets to the movie, and that's ...