What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I have the best friends! Between phone calls, comments, and discussing it at Monday sewing, I now have quite a few suggestions on how to attempt to deal with Murphy's new anxiety issue. I do want to start by checking with the vet to see exactly what medication she has, and then we are going to start investigating. 

She slept outside last night, but when I got up (the door was still open), she came in on her own and is now ensconced in her (Lexi's) raised dog bed beside me in the office. So there is hope ...

OH MY --- I had to finish that book (Grounds for Murder by Betty Ternier Daniels) last night. I think it was 8 hours in total, but since I was busy sewing this intense quilt block, I had to turn it off each time I needed to find pieces to sew. There are so many similar sizes, and obviously you are sewing two different fabrics together - I had to do a wee bit of unripping from time to time. 

But you are NOT going to believe this. At one point in the book, the main character mentions a small village in ...

We all had a decent night. Murphy is content to sleep outside - I just don't get that, but if it keeps her happy, then I'm willing to do it. But should she ever bark, I'll be like the Dad in The Night Before Christmas - "I awoke with a flash and flew to the window and tore open the sash!" That will be me! But so far, so good. And when I brought her in around 5 AM (that's kind of the witching hour for raccoons), she was happy to sleep in Lexi's bed, but when ...

Well, I'm here! And I'm feeling pretty good this morning, which is a miracle! It's been a couple of tough days, and I finally have some time to share the story. First—everyone is OK—we're just getting older. 

You'll remember me telling you that our vet retired last year, and we were very sad because they had served us well through various dog family members - Badger, Sparky, and Sammy. And then, of course, our current two crazy girls - Murphy and Lexi. I made eight dog-themed quilts for the staff as I was so happy ...

Excuse my obsession with the house fire thing. Lexi and I walked past the houses yesterday, and oh my. I will spare you the heartache for the families. It was a devastating fire, and I'm pretty sure that three of the four will have to be torn down and rebuilt. The fourth one can probably be salvaged, and the fifth one had a tarp on part of the roof, and you could see where the siding melted. That fifth house is for sale! 

It's already tough to sell a house these days, but one damaged by fire and ...

Yesterday was a transition day. While I accomplished stuff, I was almost like a slug on a rug! I wasn't going anywhere fast! But that's OK. I don't really have any time-sensitive stuff to deal with, but there are always loads that I want to accomplish. 

I started by spending almost an hour in the backyard weeding and cleaning up! I decided to cave and call the gardener guy, who will come next week, but in the meantime, I'll continue to clean up so it doesn't look like a complete jungle. It's really not ...

I am definitely a creature of habit, and if I go outside that world, I'm in big trouble!!!

I had pretty much packed my suitcase the evening before, so not much to do in the morning except have breakfast. But I thought I would give the wardrobe one last look. I checked the drawers - nothing. But when I opened up the hanging clothes area, there were THREE of my things in there. Good grief!!!!! 

I never, never, never unpack my suitcase, and so all my clothes are hanging around or in the suitcase in the room. That would not ...

While I had a great sleep, the day did not start well. Remember how I said that everything has a home - at least in Studio B? Well, it's the same when I travel; I am NOT one to unpack my suitcases in the hotel room. I leave everything in the suitcase, and there is zero danger of me leaving something in the drawers. It's one less thing to check. 

So yesterday, when I was looking for my conference T-shirts and then my yoga pants, they were not to be found. I thought the pants had been left in ...

Progress was made, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I've just come to the conclusion that what I get done is what I get done! I am not going to sweat it, and there is a lot of "new" stuff that I'm working on. By "new," I mean techniques I haven't done in a long time, a new design I'm stitching out, and so on. 

But first, let's discuss this quote that Jackie posted in the comments. 

Drop the weight on your shoulders and put it under your feet to rise to the ...

I typically stay at Holiday Inns, and when I arrive in the room, it is COLD, so I have to turn the thermostat up a couple of degrees to turn the fan/air conditioning off. I have no issues putting on a sweater, but I am not a fan of cold rooms when I'm traveling, since I don't typically have my warm clothes with me. 

Something very unusual happened on my reading lists. I typically have an e-book and an audiobook on the go at the same time. BOTH books I'm currently reading are related to a ...

 Yesterday did NOT go as planned. Where have you heard that before? I would be embarrassed to check the date the box of long-arm supplies arrived at my house (Nov 21, 2021), but let's say it was a few years ago and it's been sitting there in pristine shape ever since. 

So imagine my surprise yesterday when I opened the box to pull out the leaders, only to discover that I had bought ONE leader, not a set of three. Good grief!!!!! 

Here is the situation with the long arm. You can see that the bottom leader is ...

Happy Canada Day!!!! Look—I found a new pattern yesterday, and while I won't have time to make it for this year's Canada Day, it would be simple to make next year. I got it at Stitcharie, but I think I bought the last one, as someone else in the class purchased the second-to-last one. And we can celebrate Canada Day any day of the year! It will be great to use up some red and white scraps. 

New Canada pattern

I'm home! It sure feels great to be home, and I didn't find the drive ...

OH MY ---- shipping to Canada. I didn't even think of that, as some companies won't ship to Canada and vice versa because of high shipping costs. Isn't that just the silliest thing, considering we are next-door neighbors? 

I have found a solution: an account with a cross-border shipping company. If I want something from the US and the shipping is high, I send it to my "address" in the US. Then I pay about $10 to have it shipped from the warehouse to Canada, and that warehouse is about a ten-minute drive from my house. 

I recently ...

I'm home, and the girls are happy! 

As far as travel days go, it was pretty uneventful, which is exactly how I like them. The only issue was getting all that luggage home. I love traveling light, and so when I have three suitcases and two carry-on items, that is a LOT to manage. Thank goodness for carts at the airport. 

I got everything packed into the three suitcases and my backpack, except for a few things which went into the handy-dandy tote bag that I had with me. 

Packed and ready to roll!

Phew—yesterday was a whirlwind of a day, although I certainly took my time doing things, and now I'm going to pay the price this morning as I finish the tasks that I was supposed to finish yesterday!

There is nothing like having several open suitcases and mad packing! Actually, what I love is being able to change the number of suitcases I bring—I'm bringing samples—lots and lots of samples, so I have three suitcases. Two with samples, and one with clothes, which I still need to pack, and I'm leaving in three hours! 

There ...

I'm exhausted this morning! I seemed exhausted all day until it was time to sleep! I just woke up - the blog is going to be late!!!

Travel days are long, and even though yesterday was a short travel day, we lost three hours due to the time change. It was easy - we got up, caught the hotel shuttle back to the airport. We hung out at the lounge for a bit, and then I suggested we go down to the gate to try something new. 

DH is always grumbling about having to stand in the Zone 2 boarding lane ...

Travel days are so much fun! OK -- I know I shouldn't complain, and I'm not because I'm fortunate enough to be able to travel. I would say that half of the travel I do wouldn't be necessary if my family lived close, but we are all over the country, and hence, travel is required. For those of you with family within driving distance? You are lucky! 

Anyway -- the first thing was to get the girls walked and finish tidying up stuff around the house. Can you believe I even vacuumed quickly before I left? It's ...

Don't you feel great when you discover (reaffirm) things about yourself that make you happy? I have always been a neat person. By that I mean, I love having my stuff organized, in place, and readily available. I love organizing. 

However, when I started quilting and had a baby around the same time, my brain went totally mush, and my organizing skills went downhill rapidly. On top of that, I became something of a collector (OK—read: hoarder). And while I had great intentions of getting everything I had accumulated read or made, that wasn't happening. 

And then ...

OK --- you know how it is when you come across a new word, and you wonder about it, and then POOF -- that word comes up again! In this instance, the word is actually a name - Eilidh - pronounced like Hailey, but without the H. I thought it was a strange spelling, but it popped up this morning on something I was researching, and what are the chances of that? I'll probably see that name and that spelling in many more places now. That's so weird. 

It was a decent day - I managed to solve some of the problems that ...

THANKS to all who gave me great suggestions about the witty comments. I will reread them and memorize them because they were great!!! You are the best, and thanks for putting up with my little tirade yesterday!

And yes -- it was just a question of time before I approached the CJPA (Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association) to help. I love helping out, and used to help a lot with the quilt guilds I belonged to in the past. Then, when it became too political and cliquish for my liking, I stepped away, and I don't regret that decision. 

Thankfully, there ...