What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I'm excited that I'm on my way home today, and my event for tomorrow got moved, so I, in fact, have an entire day off on Friday! However, I have to prep for three classes on the weekend, including one on Saturday, which I had forgotten to put in my calendar. But the critical thing here is that I won't have the same amount of pressure I've had for the last couple of weeks. I can actually take a few minutes off and relax - hopefully in the gazebo!

However, the pressure of prepping for this event ...

Here's a question to contemplate today. Are shopping trends set by the consumers or by the retailers? I read an article yesterday about it. The retailers said that consumers are planning better (really?) for the holidays and want to get their shopping out of the way earlier. Therefore, they put Christmas decorations out earlier and earlier. Black Friday sales are no longer for Black Friday - it's Black Friday every day for a month! 

It's a combination of both, but I say the retailers are behind the trends. And before the retailers get their hands on the products ...

Yesterday my house was busier than an Amazon distribution hub! There was stuff being picked up and dropped off the ENTIRE day, and I was trying to work!!

I started to assemble the quilt top and had two rows together before the first interruption. I thought I was doing great. 

Lynn was first, and she couldn't pick up the stuff any earlier as I had to make a pick-up from somewhere else, and I only did that the night before. 

Back to work. 

Then Emily stopped by to pick up something, and we hadn't seen each other in ...

While I'm not a big fan of TV -- it's been so many years since I watched TV that I don't think of it as a form of entertainment. The radio used to be my entertainment, but for the last couple of years, we've had such turnover in our morning crews that I'm just not into that anymore. I enjoy playlists on Spotify, but mainly at the retreats. I love audiobooks, but lately, I'm happy to listen to NOTHING. 

Perhaps my brain isn't able to sort out the background noise from what I'm ...

What a great day I had. I got in the groove and spent the day listening to an audiobook, which I'll tell you about in a second. I made leaps and bounds in progress for the homework this weekend, and I think I should be finished by lunch, which means I won't be running around at the last minute to finish up stuff. Yeah me!! 

I used to live a pretty sheltered life when reading novels. I had a "few" authors that wrote book series (about the same character), and I would read almost exclusively those books. Some ...

Yesterday was definitely a ying-yang kind of day. I did get some writing done, and I accomplished a lot of prepping for the upcoming weekend. I did an errand after lunch that required the car, and it started to rain while I was away, and you know what? I copped out of the afternoon walk! I haven't done that in a long time. I still walked 8.5 KM but missed my goal of 11.5 KM. And then guess what I did? I had a nap! Yep -- and I had no guilt about any of it -- well, just ...

Oh my -- another magazine quilt published! This time it's in the Fons and Porter Quick + Easy Quilts. I hadn't forgotten about this quilt as I already have it back, and it's been sitting on the banister. I've been looking for the magazine for a while, but I couldn't it when I went to Indigo last week. The selection of magazines is pretty sketchy these days. Although I do find that some stores are better stocked than others. 

December/January 2021 issue of Fons and Porter Quick + Easy Quilts

Hmmm --- there's a price to pay for being cooped up during COVID. I also want to mention that I got outside every day during the shutdown. That's just part of my daily routine -- rain, snow, sleet, sun, heat - whatever, I'm out there. 

But here's what I'm learning - while walking is a great exercise, it doesn't compare to cycling. I must have pushed extra hard in the spin class to get my 30 KM, but I was exhausted for the rest of the day! 

Well, it didn't help that I ended up having breakfast ...

Yesterday was Monday sewing which is always a highlight of the week. We accomplish so much and solve all the world's problems.

It's also where we share good times and not-so-good times. Well, we had a great celebration yesterday as Helen Anne delivered the news that our province is starting Step 1 on Friday - three days ahead of schedule. That means a beer on the patio!!! Was I excited? Oh, that's not the word for it! I'm ecstatic!!! 

The only question now will be how busy it is going to be? There are still people that ...

 I smell a skunk! I think someone got hit this morning. Thankfully both girls are in the house as I'm not sure either of them would be smart enough to run! 

So there's good news and bad news today. The good news is this.

An empty design wall

Yep - that's where the Long Time Gone quilt was. And I'm happy to report that it's all in one piece! Yahoo!!!! I'm pretty excited. No, actually, it's kind of anti-climatic. I'm just relieved that it's together. I have one more thing to do ...

Oh, it's a wee bit of a challenge to type with a bandaid on your finger! Yep -- I was so excited about eating my watermelon that I cut my finger. And it was a simple matter of I forgot to move my finger out of the way. Ouch!  It was a simple cut, but it bled like crazy. OK - the bandaid is off, and that feels better. 

Ouch

We had a great day on Monday sewing. However, I didn't seem to make a lot of progress on those darn pineapple blocks. I was shopping for a couple of ...

 So one of the things I love about audiobooks is that when you read a really good one, you don't really care what you do, as long as you're doing something when you listen. That's my case! I had a couple of Zoom calls and the audiobook, and well, I got stuff done that I would have put aside for another day. The book I'm reading is called Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. I LOVE his books. I've got ONE hour to finish reading, and the book will go back today. Yes - I'm a ...

Oh dear -- I don't want to say that I'm flying by the seat of my pants or that I'm working to deadlines again. But I am getting things done the day they are due and not a minute before!

Today, it's all about the Quilts of Valour sew-along. Since I designed a pattern for them, they asked if I would participate in the event. No problem - I have NOTHING on the calendar today. Could I prep a short video? Of course, I can do that. When asked how long the videos would be (I'm making ...

I was all excited yesterday. I would set up a series of rules for my e-mail so the appropriate e-mails would be filed and it would be easy to find them. I've used rules before but haven't set them up in a while. So if you signed up for a class and cursed me when I asked that you send one e-mail per class, it's for that reason. 

I set up the rule and hit APPLY. Oh - I think something went wrong. It moved all my unread e-mails to the new folder. Oops! Then I thought I ...

 I PROMISE to get the photos of Studio U to you tomorrow! It's dark up there at the moment, and so you won't see much. It's best to wait until it's light. 

Mission accomplished - the magazine article was approved by the editor, although I had to scramble to get a wee bit of information to her. No problem - it's done! Already thinking about the next topic. I'll let you know when the article gets published.  

The other magazine quilt is done! I didn't get a box out yesterday, but now I have two ...

So you know that I'm participating in several of these virtual challenges. Most of them I'm doing solo, including walking across Canada from west to east. This year, four of us signed up to do a virtual walk across Canada from east to west. That means that at some point, our paths would cross. I knew the point was coming up soon but didn't mention it. I've been watching the maps closely for a couple of days. 

Now here's the thing when you're in a group. I log my miles every day as the ...

Oh my - if you live near me, I hope you were out yesterday. The weather was GLORIOUS. It was 18 degrees and sunny. I went for a long, long walk. I hit the mall, the library, the grocery store, and the bank! Now I have no errands for today when it's also going to be a glorious day. Oh well, one doesn't need a destination to go for a walk. 

Oh - and I saw a fellow quilter who lives not far from me. She was out for a walk with a friend, but I have to say that ...

Some days are only good news days, and some are only bad news days, and some have a wee bit of both mixed in. 

Two things happened yesterday, and OK - so I'm a drama queen here. My radio station started to play Christmas music. Not the occasion song - oh no - it's Christmas music all day, every day from now until Christmas. I'm not against Christmas music. I like Christmas music, but it's November 3rd! I changed radio stations - I'm not ready for that. 

They do this every year, so it's not a surprise; I ...

I feel like a slug this morning. Why? Oh - I slept last night, but I went to bed about one hour later than I normally do. And when that alarm went off at ridiculous o'clock this morning, I just said NO - I'll wait until the second alarm. Even then, I still didn't want to get up! 

But I'm better now that I've been moving around a wee bit. And what's with the temperature? It's COLD. I did start wearing long pants earlier this week. And I'll definitely have a jacket on to ...

We had a great Monday sewing Zoom session. It truly feels like we're all together in the same room. The only thing that disappoints me is that I can't seem to use my Bluetooth earbuds with Zoom. I can watch videos with the earbuds - no problem. I can see the earbuds connected to the Zoom audio, but I hear nothing, and they can't hear me. GRRR!!! 

So that means that I have to be somewhat attached to the laptop. Oh well - it could be worse. I was going to do some cutting and well - I just need ...