What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I laugh about the subwoofer! It would be in my STASH room if it was bolted to the floor beneath the family room. It's going to stay where it is - behind the sofa. But it makes sense - it's a SUB woofer, and it's just an ugly-looking box. I've no idea why, for 20 years - it had to sit front and center in our family room. But that's a thing of the past. 

And if all goes well, the old TV and surround sound will be picked up in an hour! I have a few other ...

Oh my goodness --- what a coincidence! Someone was in Buenos Aires waiting for that plane that had the onboard death in Sao Paulo! What are the chances! It's sad as that gentleman was on his way to a cruise. I hope his body got back home without too much hassle. It does make you wonder how much hassle the family must go through and at what cost to get a person back who has died while on vacation. 

I've definitely become a slacker when it comes to taking photos. Trust me—I took lots of photos, but not ...

Oh yes - my gluts! I don't think they are strong at all. They should be, but I don't think they are. The biggest issue is the imbalance - hamstrings are too tight, glutes are not strong enough, and other fun things. You would think for all the spin classes I do, this shouldn't be a problem, but it is. The truth is in doing some exercises and seeing how much weight I can lift. Together, my legs work as a great team, but individually? They are wobbly and unsure of themselves. This just goes to show how a ...

WOW --- Rose didn't even need 20 questions! One guess! I'm impressed and how the heck did she zero in on that? Check out the comments - I won't say here in case you're still guessing. 

It's good that I'm not afraid of a blank page, also known as "blank page syndrome." I face a blank page every morning when I write the blog, and sometimes, it's very early in the morning, and sometimes, it's shortly after getting out of bed. I don't think I was much of a writer when I was ...

OH my -- I always get a chuckle from the comments, and I need to get back to answering them individually. I'm not a math nerd, so I don't calculate how much batting cutoffs get used in a year, but it is shocking when I see people throw those batting bits away. I "glue" them together for smaller projects like table runners, bags, placemats, etc. I am working my way through the batting cutoff closet, and once April is here, I plan to be on the long arm to try and finish up some community projects where I use ...

The week is done - but not quite. I have one Zoom this evening - an odd time, but all that would fit everyone's schedule. Be sure to check it out -- it's all about Free Motion Quilting AND thread painting, and my session is excellent. The store? Sew Productive in Acton! You'll find some valuable tips for those who want to up their game with free motion or just get in the game. 

So, I have almost a free day to do what I want. It's more like playing catchup than getting anything done! I've already tidied ...

Delete, delete, delete - the number of spam comments seems to grow by the day. Today was all about license plates. Have I mentioned anything about license plates recently? NO. And digitizing - I  may have mentioned that, but it's all part of our new world filled with AI and bots that are supposed to do a better job than humans. Well, not exactly. I'm reading some articles about AI, and it seems that no one can even define what it is and how it's supposed to work. So, how are we going to figure it out? We won ...

Here's an interesting observation. I had a busy week last week, as have been the last several weeks. It's not so much about being super busy - two 2-hour presentations per day don't fill the day, but there's prep work for each and other bits of life. Usually, one of the two events would be held in the evening. 

While I had three shorter Zooms yesterday, they were more "casual" than during the week, and after 2 PM, the rest of the day was mine. What a huge difference that made in my day! I could actually ...

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement in the fight to stay "young." It's not so much the fight to stay young as to keep the body in decent enough shape to enjoy the rest of our days as independently as possible. Consider how much cheaper "old age" will be if we don't require help or medication. Plus, our families will love us even more since we will be less of a burden to them. 

Now, I get that some things can't be controlled by diet or exercise, but whatever is in our control? We need to ...

 It's funny how the days just seem to jumble together. It's almost like Ground Hog Day when the same things happen repeatedly! I am somewhat "chained" to the house because of those presentations. They are all over the schedule, so I must watch the clock. But all is good! I had two presentations yesterday, and both went well. I'm back in the groove for the new topics, although I still have some samples and supplies to organize. 

Guess what I did with my "free" time this morning? I sorted and organized, and every little bit made me ...

The blog is a bit late today, as I was at the gym with Brooke. Oh boy—what an eye-opener it was this morning. When I had my massage this past week, Misty mentioned that my right leg was significantly more muscular than the left. I mentioned that to Brooke, so we did some testing. EEK!! Both legs are very weak, but the left one is worse! It's almost embarrassing to say this, but I've let my legs weaken.

Yes - I walk a lot, but it's flat urban walking, and well, I'm not sure I get ...

And I'm home again! That was the shortest "retreat" I've been on for a long time. But it was also the correct length for what it was! We only went for a weekend when we started going to retreats in 2006 - almost TWENTY years ago. That was too short, so now we go for six nights. Neither the machine embroidery workshop participants nor I could handle six days of learning machine embroidery! 

We were learning design positioning, and I was hopping around the room like a crazy person. But it was all good. 

The most important thing for ...

So what happened yesterday? Two of the three links in yesterday's post were incorrect. I fixed them, but rather than you having to go back, here they are again. 

Here are the 2025 QuiltCon winners and the Dignity sculpture in South Dakota. 

Some days, things just happen! 

Yesterday was a better day, but it was still one of those days. I was in Studio B doing some embroidery. I knock a box of fabric on the floor. GRR. My thread breaks. GRR. I can't find the screwdriver to change the needle. GRR. Well, you see what it was ...

What a whirlwind day! I ran between Zoom and shoveling snow and Zoom. But there is good news—wait for it. 

This was after the first shovel in the morning. This picture was taken around 8 a.m. and the snow was covering up my handiwork as I finished. 

8 a.m.

Noon

Then, there was the shovel session at 3:00 p.m. Each time, it took between 40 - 50 minutes to shovel. Is ...

Well, there's nothing much to discuss this morning except the snow! I didn't want to repeat what happened last week when I had a foot of snow to clear from the driveway, so right after my three Zooms, it was time to grab that shovel. 

And this was what it looked like as I finished Round One. Yes - it was still snowing, so as quickly as I shoveled, the snow fell on the other side. But getting rid of at least that much will help. 

Round One

Just before we started the Virtual Retreat, it was time to ...

Yes -- it's OK to be a Pollyanna. It'll drive those negative Nellies to weep, and that's OK. It's nice to be positive, and I must keep the gentle critique in my back pocket for the next time! So many people are unaware of how they converse and are perceived, and some do NOT come up for air! 

Oh my—I have two of the three presentations ready, and the third won't take long. But the timing is tight! I've got to try a little harder next month so that it doesn't come to ...

An eagle eye spotted something in yesterday's post. Can you believe I wrote, "continue to CLUTTER," not declutter!!! I've since corrected that little error! Thanks for the note!!

I learned something interesting about my neighbors yesterday. Remember how I complain about those who do NOT shovel their sidewalks? Guess why? Because they ONLY use a snow blower, and if there's not enough snow, they don't bother. Those lazy so-and-sos!!!!!! As the street was digging itself out yesterday, EVERY HOUSE that never shovels had their snow blower out. I should have walked to all of them and ...

I should mention that we live on a court, so there's no sidewalk plowing. The street that our street joins is also not cleared by the city. However, the next street over the sidewalk is plowed. It all works out, but it's annoying that homeowners can't do some work. I wonder how I'll get to the plowed sidewalk this morning with the girls. I'm walking on the street, I guess. 

So when I was in BC last year—Penticton and West/North Vancouver, to be exact—I would NOT want to live there if there ...

OK -- we talked about comments the other day and how the power of suggestion, even in your mind, will trigger things. Well, where did this comment come from? 

The mystery of the internet, for sure! 

I have a favor to ask all of you, particularly those who live close to me or are on the Pony Express. You could always send the items via mail, but I don't want people to incur costs. 

A local group of sewists meets at the library several times a month—maybe even once a week—to make medicine dolls. These dolls help hospitalized ...

We all know that the internet is run by algorithms. Perhaps they do not run the internet, but algorithms play a huge part in what we see. You mention one word and BAM—your feeds are full of ads or links to items related to that word. 

Somewhere along the line, I've mentioned various cities, which is enough to trigger random comments on the blog. I deleted over ten comments concerning driver training in a West Coast city this morning. Why? I've never mentioned learning to drive, but it shows up. Or if I want carpet cleaning or ...