What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Oh gosh --- it's a good that I did some tidying up the previous day cause it looks awful this morning. 

I had two Zoom sessions yesterday, and while one was the same content (sergers) as I offered last year, it was in a different language from the previous time, so a few things had to be changed to accommodate that. The other event (applique) is brand new, and resulted in tearing the place apart, looking for specific pieces or examples of stitching. 

I've ripped the tubs of tops to be quilted apart to find one quilt. TWO tubs ...

 A week is a long time to be at a retreat, but it is heaven. I'm not thinking about the girls. They are in good hands. I miss them, but sometimes, it's great to get a break from their antics -- just like your kids! We go home tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll get the cold shoulder from the Princess and five minutes of love from Murphy, and then she'll be off to get into trouble! Dogs don't appreciate the passage of time; all is forgiven as soon as you are back! 

We have been ...

You guessed it -- EVERYTHING takes longer than you think it will. Did I finish those improv blocks with the leftovers from Farmer's Wife? Nope --- and I went to bed with the problem of figuring out how many blocks I would need, how many I have, and whether I have enough fabric to complete the blocks? 

Thanks to a discussion with Katheleen, I will keep these blocks myself. I have a plan and hope I have enough craps to finish it. 

Here are the finished blocks. They look fantastic, and I'm very excited about them. 

My improv blocks

I ...

I have yet to go outside, but could we be snowed in? We had a lot of snow yesterday, but the retreat house is also on a hill, and the snow was blowing, so hopefully, it blew away from the yard and not into it! 

We'll be out for our walk once it gets light, and then we'll see. This region is on the ball for road maintenance, so that won't be a problem, but we have to get from the house to the road. And if we don't get out for our walk until later ...

 Yesterday, it was all about getting things done! I think it was one of my most productive retreat days ever! And how did that happen? I seemed to spend a bit more time sewing and a little less time chatting! 

But I still got to chat with everyone, and I still say that I have the best friends and we have the BEST time at Virtual Retreat! It's nice to know that we can laugh and chat without physically being with each other! And we solve all the world's problems! If quilters ruled the world!

OH -- here's ...

Oh, shoot -- I forgot to get a picture of the under-the-desk drawer situation. Something to look forward to tomorrow!

More great classes yesterday on using pre-cuts and scraps. I've got my share of pre-cuts, and I need to use them up! The class (hosted by The Hobby Horse) runs until June, and if you didn't sign up, I think you missed the boat. The discussions we've had so far have made me WANT to use these things up, and I'm getting ideas on what to do with the pre-cuts. So this is what I'm tackling ...

OK -- so this happened yesterday, and it's not about Murphy!

The writing is done! Am I getting better? Or am I better prepared? It seems to take less time than it did in the past - I think my hands are getting faster at getting the thoughts on "paper," and I'm better at editing as my grammar improves. I used to fight with Grammarly to understand what they were telling me. It does NOT like Passive Voice, and I used to struggle with writing in the Active Voice. It's all good -- the writing is done!

 ACK -- I'm a bit behind in responding to your comments! I need to do that every day as I love to get comments from you all, and I feel bad when I don't comment back because often, that's the only way we get to stay in touch; otherwise, it's a one-sided conversation! 

Can you believe it's the last day of September? I've felt a bit "nostalgic" all week as this would have been the week I would have arrived in Santiago! I've been thinking about the people I met and figured many would ...

I got LUCKY!!! Even though that grey fabric is years old, I found a shop in Ontario that still has it in stock! Yeah! She will be sending me a half meter next week, so I can make the binding for my quilt! As I said -- I got lucky, and it wasn't critical that I use that fabric for the binding, as I could have found something else. Still, it shows that you must be flexible in creating something, especially from fabric you purchased years ago, because you might not find more if you need it!

I was busy ...

I'm going to have to start blogging at night! I know some people like to read the blog over coffee or breakfast in the morning, and well -- I'm going to be late. Not too late, but it'll have to be short!

Why? Because I started reading a darn audiobook -- that's why! I started it yesterday - only 9 hours, but the darn thing is a page-turner (so to speak!). 

I listened with my big headphones on while I was out setting up the sprinkler, then I sat at the kitchen table while I waited 20 minutes to ...

OH shoot -- I goofed on the one-sided paper acronym. It's GOOSe, which stands for "good on one side, EH!" Anyway, I found a lot more GOOSe yesterday, and it's been added to the pile for printing.  

I finally got through that pile of receipts, and I did keep a few that I'll sort through later. But the majority of it is gone. More on that in a minute. DH had the gall to ask why I didn't just dump it without sorting. He hasn't learned that I have to do things MY way or it ...

It would almost appear that I've lost my commitment to quilting! I haven't - but I'm just trying to get other things done and show you (and me) that I'm not a one-trick pony! 

I walked the girls yesterday and did a few chores around the house because now that things are looking great, they have to stay that way! And then I was upstairs to see what I could do about that massive stack of receipts. Yes -- I could have taken the lot and dumped it in the box that goes to the shredder, but that ...

Oh my -- there's so much to say and so little time! But I'm happy to report that the one writing assignment is done! But there are still two patterns to write, and another huge writing assignment is looming. And a few quilts need quilting, but I might take today just for me! Well, more of the day than I usually would. I have some essential shopping ahead of me, and if I don't get it done soon, I will be in big trouble. More on that another day. 

I also feel like crap this morning as I ...

Thanks for your patience and understanding with my blog posts over the last couple of days. As Linda noted in the comments, signing up for classes because of FOMO (Fear of missing out) results in UFOs. Plain and simple -- you get a ton of UFOs. And because you are working on a class that your friend wanted to take or that you feel you absolutely must take NOW, you don't get to work on projects of your own choosing! 

And the only thing that happens is the generation of UFOs and GUILT. All I can say is to use ...

 Let's start with a wee bit of math. Don't worry -- it's easy! 

The other day, I had to gas in my car. It's a RARE occurrence these days and this was the first time this year. Don't worry -- I'm driving it enough to not seize up the brakes, but there's not many places to go that I can't walk. 

When I had filled up, I glanced at the screen and WOW -- I saved $1.32 because my credit card is linked to my bank. I saved THREE CENTS a litre. That got ...

Torry asked a question about the size of the plastic containers. OH -- I'll get those sizes for you tomorrow. But I mainly use two different plastic containers. The flat ones are designed for scrapbooking, which are large enough to put a 12" piece of scrapbook paper (quilt block) in. They are about 3" high. I saw them for $6 each at Micheals the other day, and sometimes they go on sale. 

I like them because if my pattern is large or I'm using a book, it fits easily into those containers. I mostly buy clear ones, but you ...

 What did I just do? It's like I opened Pandora's Closet and then followed Alice down the rabbit hole. 

So I decided to do a bit more sorting of the stuff from the closet. I knew this container of scraps was sitting there, and I was ignoring it, but this morning it called to me. So I dug it out to investigate further. 

A basket of green scraps

What's that all about? 

The green container is FILLED with green scraps. Don't you love my color coordination? 

Green scraps

This is the messy basket. There's a ...

Well, I don't seem to have a lot to show for all my work yesterday. And there are days when I think back to what I did the day before, and I have to search really hard. The days, especially when it comes to decluttering and sewing, can run endless one into the other!

I did some puttering during Monday sewing, and I had a few more hourglass units to trim. Speaking of hourglass units, here's an update in that area. 

So you saw these units that I stitched at the retreat. 

Hourglass units created at the retreat ...

OH DRAT!!!  I should have checked that the links I posted yesterday actually worked. There was an issue with the sound, and so that video was replaced. 

Here are the NEW links.  Just tested, and at least the Facebook one works. So sorry for that!!!!

Facebook Video Link:

https://fb.watch/9y8NaEshwe/

YouTube Video Link:

https://youtu.be/8XazTq3jzSo

As usual, I tried to cram too much into the day! In addition to the last class for two of the sew-alongs of this past year, I signed up for a Kimberbell class that I could participate in virtually. 

I'll ...