What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Lots of great tips on the rash -- thanks to everyone for that, and YES -- I agree about the blow dryer, although I didn't resort to that. But the cool air blowing on my arm in spin class was very soothing. I'm happy to report that while it's still itchy and I'm keeping my hands off of it, it's calmed down. That Tea Tree Oil did the trick! Now to prevent anything from touching it, which reminds me it's there, and I want to scratch it! 

This weather is crazy! One day we're in ...

Rest assured, no rabbits were hurt in this incident - at least not to my knowledge! I mentioned yesterday that the girls were on the hunt for a rabbit under the gazebo. I have no objection to rabbits, but could they live OUTSIDE of my yard where the dogs can't use them to hone their hunting skills? 

I let the girls out earlier than usual yesterday as I was going to be away in the morning. They got on the scent of this rabbit, and well, like a dog with a bone, they would NOT give up. Fortunately, they were ...

 So it wasn't quite the productive day that I wanted it to be, but I did OK. 

I swear this Patterned Concrete company is the most efficient company I've ever seen. They have teams that do specific jobs and don't waste a second. 

The first crew was here before I finished the blog yesterday. This was the cutting crew. Their job was to remove the plastic sheeting from the driveway. I love how they randomly parked the truck practically in the middle of the street. 

The cutting crew arrives

Have you ever been so exhausted that everything hurt? That was last evening. And then you finally get to check into your hotel room at 10:30 PM, and typically the first thing I do is turn off the AC; well, I didn't even do that. I crawled into bed and fell asleep. But not before I put my Mom's quilt on the bed to keep me warm. 

I have tried to turn off that stupid thing this morning, as it's like an ice box in here! And noisy to boot. I MUST figure it out - at ...

Thanks for the suggestions on the topics for the basic sewing machine class. I'm going to put that agenda together and find a time slot. It WILL happen as I think it's terribly important for everyone to know the essential functions of their machines and how to make them work as they should!!

Yesterday was a bit of a topsy-turvy day. I had to get M and Bear to the airport by 10 AM. That was after spin class, and well, the girls never did get a walk! Now that the company is gone, we can get back ...

WOW --- what a crazy day, but I feel so accomplished! 

It's a long story about me getting my third shot, but it finally got booked for yesterday at 10:45 at the local pharmacy, so I could walk. Hey -- if I don't need to use my car, I won't, and I got lots of extra steps in the day. I arrive at the pharmacy and see two people ahead of me in the line. The guy's appointment was for 11, and his wife was for 12:45. 

The pharmacy wasn't giving the shots until 11 ...

Nothing is more satisfying than entering the kitchen in the morning and seeing a dishwasher full of clean dishes. 

The dishwasher cycle is finished!

I had to put on my appliance repair hat because this happened. 

The night before, M loaded some stuff in the dishwasher and I suspect there was a LOT of food left on the plates. I woke up to an F11 error message on the dishwasher. OK -- no big deal, I've dealt with that before. Oh no! The dishwasher was filled with greasy, orange water. ICK!! I shut the door and would deal with it ...

 Phew! The guests are gone, and the house is quiet. I'm sad, but life goes on! 

I took the little guy for his last walk in the forest, and he gave me his EVIL eye when I tried to take his picture!  

Bear's EVIL eye

Peer pressure is a good motivator! A number of us have signed up for the One Block Wonder using a panel at Thimbles and Things. Not that I needed to make one, but it was on my list of quilts to make so now seemed like a good time. 

I found those small panels in my stash so I didn't even have to buy anything. I also found some coordinating fabric for the binding, backing, and the filler along the edges. I attended the class two weeks ago and today is class number two. We are supposed to have ...

Yesterday was D  -Day. D for delivery! And while I was out traipsing around, I received an e-mail from that UPS supervisor who is now my superhero. He was following up! You could have knocked me over when I saw that. He said he saw the package was marked as received, and could I verify that. And indeed it was received!! What a huge relief, and what a nice gesture from the UPS guy to follow up!!

Well, I'm a wee bit behind again this morning, but no fault other than my own. I had to prep the homework ...

 Oh boy -- everything takes way longer than planned! I've got so much sewing prepped and ready to go - I just need the time to sit at the machine and get it done! I did get a lot of sewing done, but it was for a project today, and of course, that Long Time Gone is consuming HUGE amounts of time, and I don't seem to be making progress. 

This might be the picture I showed yesterday - well if so, it's a bit more advanced than that. Yep - same picture as yesterday  - I didn't take a new ...

The package arrived! I shipped a package to M on Feb 18, and I was told that it would likely be late because of the amount of stuff that's being shipped these days. The normal is five to six business days. Well, the package arrived yesterday!!! Kudos to Canada Post for the timely delivery of that box, and it was a very reasonable price to ship it - $34.62 for a large box weighing 8.65 KG. 

What I love is that she and her boyfriend walked to the Post Office to get the box! Yeah!!!!

As you can ...

Well, I had a moment of excitement yesterday. We had our machine embroidery class on the weekend, and we're talking about stabilizers because stabilizers are very important to machine embroidery. I suggested that we make samples, so I had dug out some rolls of stabilizers and made some samples for me!

Then I remembered in my drawer of stabilizers where I have many samples - perhaps some of those could be used rather than cutting into the rolls. Oh boy - be careful what you ask for! Look what I found. 

This stack is made up of SAMPLE packs that I ...

 Oh boy  - what a morning I've already had. I'm getting ready for my guild presentation on Group Quilts. Let's just say that I've participated in a LOT of group quilts. I haven't made the final count yet, but there are lots. I got some pictures that need editing and then get them uploaded into the presentation. Still more pictures to take today. But it was an eye-opener, to say the least!

I also found the lost quilt top - it was in a bag with another quilt top. Phew!!! That was one of my favorites. Well ...

 What a totally crazy day! But it was a good day! I did two things - and I know I'm not going to have time to tell you about both - so do we talk about decluttering, or do we talk about sewing? Let's see how much time I have. 

By the way, someone suggested that I could use the scrappy strips for a log cabin quilt. The narrow ones would work! I'm going to tuck that in the back of my mind. Thanks for the suggestion. 

Oh - let's talk about sewing!

I have a couple of guild ...

 Yep - today, Bear and M will be leaving. They have a mid-morning flight to catch. I'm sad to see them go - it's been great fun to have them here, even though Bear has totally thrown my routine off! He gets one more walk this morning before he has to be bundled up into his carrier - he's NOT going to be happy about that. 

M and Little Bear

Yum!!! Slurp!  Yum!!

He is so darn slow. No - that's not true exactly. He's unpredictable. One day, he runs the entire time we're out, and the next ...

It's Christmas Day!! How did this happen? Where did the year go? OK - we won't go there! It's been an extraordinary year!

Here's a family photo to share with you. And why do those dogs outshine the people? 

Merry Christmas from Lexi, ME, M, Bear, and Murphy

Yes - a family member is missing, but he'd never opt to be in the photo. We'll just pretend that he's taking the picture - NOT! 

At first sight, this looks like a normal photo. But notice that I'm holding onto Murphy, so she doesn't bolt ...

Can you believe that Christmas is just a few days away? At my house, Santa's little elves are busy quilting and binding. And they are almost done! Essentially, all that's left to get done before Christmas is to finish writing my Christmas cards. I know - I'm late. But better to be late than never. 

The T-shirt quilt is on the long arm, and I need to make the binding and quilt it later today. It likely won't get picked up until after Christmas due to the pandemic, but I'll meet my commitment. I have the ...

 Today is the LAST day of craziness for this year! Oh - who am I kidding? But it should calm down quite a bit after today. I have two classes today, and I still have two presentations to assemble, and never mind that I had to do the homework for one of them yesterday (and this morning). The girls might have to wait until later for their walk. 

Last night, I had the good fortune to listen to an author speak. This was through my local library. Honestly, these author talks have become HUGE because of Zoom. So this is a ...

Every once in a while, you have a day that you don't want to repeat. Yesterday was such a day. Oh - don't get me wrong, things got done, and I could check them off my list. It was just a wee bit too tight on the timing, is all. 

I'm happy to report the magazine quilt is gone! I should have taken a picture of it sitting on the doorstep. I had to babysit it while it got quilted. Well, that's not really true. There were many threads on the top, so I was cutting threads ...