What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I sure wish I were playing car bingo yesterday because I saw lots of stuff on my drive to and from Cannington. 

First, I want to say that this guild is small, but it's MIGHTY. The number of quilts that came in for show and tell and were then donated to their Outreach program was astounding! 

Some members were given blocks or panels and "had" to make something from them, and they were outstanding! 

And they very warmly received me, and I had oodles of great feedback. Of course, I never seem to have business cards with me. So ...

Not only did I cave and put my pants back on (from wearing shorts instead of not wearing any pants at all!), but I also turned the heat back on in the house. It's cool outside! The girls are loving this weather! 

And the decluttering motivation has hit again! I swear - once you start to see those open spaces and NOTHING to fill them up, well, it's inspiring! 

I started by pulling everything from that corner in the office. Yes - another instance of pulling everything out, but will I actually deal with it? 

The current pile of crap ...

One thing about decluttering your house is what to do with all the stuff! Most of us don't want it to go to the landfill, but I can see a lot of good things going there because people don't want to take the time to find a good home for things, nor do they want to take the effort to deliver them. 

When Yagana cleaned out M's stuff upstairs, about 10 or 11 boxes were sitting in the hallway. Five boxes remain, and I'll deal with those later. I sorted half of the boxes, and now ...

It's incredible how much time it takes to answer emails and type up some information. I ran around the house yesterday, measuring quilts, typing up lists, and gathering all the information required to order supplies for the concurrent show at Quilt Canada. 

Then I sent it off and realized later that it was a jumbled mess - it was legible, but not very logical. Now that I have all the correct (not guesswork) information, I will resend the list, and it won't take long to fix. 

I still have more email to organize - it's incredible how many things ...

 And the merry-go-round continues! But there is good news! My entry for the Trendtex Challenge is complete, it's in the mail, and is scheduled to arrive before the judging cutoff date. Not that I expect to win any awards for this quilt, but I'm just happy to get it in on time. 

I had planned to finish it before noon, but that didn't happen because I had a couple of other things on my plate, and I had to deal with phone calls and some emails first. And then I was madly sewing the final part of ...

I love Murphy. How could you not? BUT she's testing us these days. I had no problems falling asleep, only to be woken by her intense barking. Something's in the backyard. Good grief, so I took her upstairs and shut the bedroom door. She doesn't like being in a room with the door shut, and I eventually let her out because she gets extremely restless in a closed space. Thankfully, I fell back asleep. 

What was in the backyard? Probably a raccoon or a possum! 

This morning, as I was sitting down at the computer, she started ...

Murphy's thoughts are rubbing off on me! No, I didn't want to throw my sewing machine into the pond so someone could rescue it. But as she and I were walking yesterday, a thought popped into my head, and oh my goodness. I realized that if I added the embellishments in their two separate components, I could stitch them to the wall hanging. No glue required. It means sewing part of it with a sewing machine, which I like, as that's sturdier than glue. The second part of each embellishment can be hand-stitched. 

Thank you, Murphy, for ...

About that new author I mentioned yesterday - Iona Wishaw. Her latest book is coming out on April 29th, although Daphne noted that it's already out. If you live in BC, she's doing book tours and signings, and you should go! It's great to support our authors. I hope she can get a more extensive reach! I finished the book yesterday and I loved it. Lots of thinking and fact contemplating, which I love! 

Let's support our Canadian authors. And for our US neighbors, I do read lots of US authors, but I'm always excited to ...

Don't ask me about the comments on the blog or how they work. Sometimes people's names appear with the comment, sometimes comments are posted anonymously, and at other times, their status changes. Others want to comment, but they cannot. I have NO idea why. I should investigate the matter. Maybe there's some help feature that I can find. 

Good grief -- I just did a Google search and came up with this. Which I think most people know. I think the main thing is that you need a Google account to reply, and you must be logged in ...

Well, I was all fired up to hit the gym this morning, but then I remembered it's Good Friday, so the hours are changed. I finally got the hours (5 AM), only to realize that my Fitbit was about to die, so I'm taking a few minutes to start the blog while it charges slightly. Good grief -- all in the name of exercise! 

But it's more than exercise. It's about discipline, about wanting to stay healthy - both physically and mentally, and it's a great way to start the day. 

As I typed the word HIT ...

We're back!! DH and I both read the story in the graphic novel EXIT Game. Then we collaborated, and between the two of us, we got the answer! Not before I goofed AGAIN and missed a bunch of letters, so we had to redo the puzzle multiple times. Although DH insists we found the answer unconventionally, I don't care! We solved it without using the clues. He's so black and white; I'm every shade in between! 

Teamwork! It's all about teamwork! 

Should I mention what happened to the kitchen table? This happens when you use ...

AHA --- Someone mentioned that it might help if one person read the EXIT story. That's what we typically do, except this is a graphic novel, so that won't work. We'll each read and then collaborate on the puzzle solving. We didn't get a chance last night as DH was working late. 

I must remember to focus on what I did! But that's usually what I do on the blog anyway. It's kind of a recap of everything that happened the day before!

Oh, the second thing I made on my digital cutter arrived at ...

Well, this message has hit very close to home! 

I'm listening to an audiobook by Oliver Burkeman called "Meditations for Mortals." Oh boy -- it's about trying to do everything in life and not always succeeding. It talks about our busyness, which is me! 

It also mentions how we feel we must read everything that comes into our house—that's me. We must listen to audiobooks/podcasts at double speed (NOT me) and millions of UFOs (OK—that's me). He wasn't talking about quilting but unfinished projects—like painting the living room, fixing the bathroom door ...

We had our Zoom session on digital cutters, and just when you think there is not much more to learn—oh, who am I kidding? I've only scratched the surface. But here is something that I made a while ago. Now that the recipient has received it and the group has seen it, I can share it with you. 

I have several digital cutters and used the Singer Momento to make this one. I found a project on the mySewnet website and modified it slightly to suit my needs. 

I hate giving a gift card. Well, it's not ...

I think we all know the answer to that question. The aging process can't be stopped, but it can be slowed. Even though I was and always have been very active, there were certain things I was NOT doing for my body, and it was starting to show—big time. This was not just because of aging but also the issue with my leg/back—whatever it is. 

So I decided to take back my life! I started stretching more—not enough, but way more than before. I started lifting weights (I'm never going to have a six-pack ...

I swear Brooke (my personal trainer) is trying to kill me! Her philosophy is, let's just sneak a bit more weight on there when Elaine isn't looking! But all is good, and my mobility continues to improve. I'm not so sure about the tightness in my muscles, but I can only hope! I need to do more stretching at home, but there are definite improvements, so all the hard work is worth it!

I don't want to say that yesterday was a total bust because there was some significant learning involved, some sewing, but not much ...

Did you notice what I missed yesterday? As I was walking the dogs, where I get my most profound thinking done, I realized that if I don't change the pharmacy on my chart at the doctor, they will merrily send the next prescription to the old pharmacy, which hopefully won't be for a year, but I'll forget by then. So I called the doctor to make that change. Good grief - they need the fax number. FAX? I didn't have that, but when I went to pick up the prescription, I got the fax number, so that ...

In this insane world of ours today, what is the biggest timewaster?

OK -- after social media! 

It's follow-ups! 

It doesn't seem to matter what you do these days, but everything requires follow-up. You can't seem to accomplish a single thing without some form of follow-up, and it can suck up so much time. 

Like my new theatre seating, which came with no trays, but that is all taken care of now. 

Like going to the doctor to renew that prescription and having to follow up because it got sent to the pharmacy, but I wanted to change ...

I love lists! Lists make me feel in control! This little apple did not fall far from the tree. My mom keeps tons of information, but most of it is useless, like tracking the amount that the telethon (they still have those out west) raised over the last 50 years. Now, that's a list I can do without! However, I have to say that having a list like that and keeping track of it for 50 years is a feat! 

My most extensive lists are book-related! 

Back in the day, and I could not find an exact date, there ...

I love our Pony Express! We've shuffled many things around on it, and there's quite a stack at my front door. Granted, some of that is not technically for the Pony Express, but it's waiting for me to make some donation drop-offs. 

And I have to say that having friends who live in other places is a great thing! I was alerted to another amazing user bookstore in Brockville called Book Trader. They have a Facebook page, and I contacted them. Within minutes, I had a reply. I sent my list to them, and within minutes, I ...