What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Who knew two weeks ago that I would actually get all that work done, and I would survive and even find a few spare moments to watch The Great British Bake Off? That Paul guy is pretty darn good-looking. And I must STOP thinking about baking something. Good grief -- what is happening to me? 

I still have two presentations today, a Facebook Live and one of my own classes tonight. The weekend will be entirely on Zoom, but I have minimal prep, so it's all fun stuff, and I can't wait!

There are still two weeks of "work ...

Those darn pictures arrived in my inbox about an hour late. That rarely happens! Oh well, you know me and technology - some days I'm smoking, and other days, I'm cold. 

Let's start with the missing photos from yesterday!

Here are the running shoes and the ones on the left - the old ones look in excellent shape - slightly dirty, but in good condition. 

The old and the new

 Let's have a look at some show and tell today. This is from the Urbanologie class. We're almost at the end of this project, and I confess that I still have a few blocks to make. In some months, we had to make five or six of the same block, and I got one made to do the homework, but not the others. The pieces are cut out, but I need to get them sewn together. I haven't had a chance to put the blocks on the design wall, so I have no idea what the quilt ...

How many of you have an embroidery machine? OK -- so how many of you use it? I mean, really use it, so you are learning it. I mean experimenting and trying new things. Do you know all the functions? 

Even though I'm somewhat knowledgeable about machine embroidery, there's always something new to learn. I don't take classes, but I'm willing to make mistakes and learn by doing. I haven't wrecked anything yet! That's what I've been doing the last couple of days.

It's my week to blog on QUILTsocial, and I'll ...

While I loved being away at the quilt retreat, it's always nice to get back home! And yes - I switched pillows last night. It's too early to tell, but my neck does feel a bit better this morning. It's also that lunatic dog of mine that doesn't help! Walking Murphy is like getting mini-whiplash! She's so much better, but I bet that hasn't helped the situation. 

I couldn't help myself; I contacted Paula's daughter to tell her the quilt top was done! She LOVES it. And so she should - her Mom chose ...

 Hmm -- I discovered something this morning when I woke up. I've had a wee issue with some muscles in my neck, and I noticed that they were significantly less when I was at the retreat, even though I was sewing a lot. Could it be my pillow? My pillow isn't as thick and fluffy as the one at the retreat house - perhaps I need to try a new pillow. But I was off to the gym this morning! There are so few people at 5:30 AM. 

Well, yesterday was a great day! In the morning, I had ...

 Another super day at Retreat at the Farm. I have learned to be very focused when at quilt retreats. You'll see what I mean in a minute. 

But while at quilt retreat, one must keep active! So Susan and I headed out in the morning to locate a geocache that was nearby. We had to walk 1.9 KM to find it, and it was an easy find. 

The geocache

 Wow!!!!   We had so much fun at the Virtual Retreat, and we got to meet someone new. Hello to Kathy from Winnipeg. A lot of the usual suspects were present, and so great to chat with everyone! It's canning season, and I'll leave my friends to make their jam and jellies and other preserves. It doesn't make sense for me to make them since I don't eat them. I was tempted the other day when I saw homemade jams for sale, but then, I don't eat bread (or very little) so that the jam would ...

 OK -- I promise that tomorrow, I'll get started on all the homework photos. I have things to share with you from the Virtual Retreat. 

What fun we had! We got to meet Barb from Maryland!  Lots of familiar faces that stretched across the country and over to Germany. We discovered MANY things, including there's an imposter amongst us! That's all I'm going to say about it, except that we had a good laugh over it. 

We talked about everything and anything, including the FitBit and what it tracks and do they do anything with the data ...

 OH -- Patti sent me the "story" behind the saying, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" I love it. Here it is in her words if you don't know it. 

In the olden days, when you were buying a horse from someone, you checked the condition of the horse’s teeth and gums – no teeth, not healthy, bad purchase.  However if someone was gifting you a horse, it was considered poor etiquette to check the healthiness of the horse (by looking him in the mouth) prior to accepting the “gift”.

AHA -- that makes perfect sense. Thanks, Patti ...

From time to time (OK - every day), I check the stats on this blog. I'm not sure that I even understand how to read them, but I LOVE how the numbers change depending on the topic. The ketchup story? Lots of readers - so can you tell me who is searching the internet for ketchup? Appears that lots of people are. 

I'm happy (OK - thrilled) to report that today is Friday! What does that mean? Well, it's Step One of reopening in our province, and that means non-essential stores are open (if they choose to be), and so ...

 Oh my gosh -- you guys are the best!!! There are times when I think I live in a vacuum waiting to be rescued by you all!! I will NOT be buying a new rain jacket - I just need to find some waterproofing stuff. So that's on the list of things to track down. See how those errands accumulate!! I can barely keep above the water on the errands, but I did manage to get a few off the list yesterday. You know how it is - one errand leads to another and so on. 

We have some house repairs that ...

 I went on a little shopping trip yesterday. I got to walk amongst bolts of fabric, look at kits, spools of thread, look at samples. It was quite a heady experience. I will NOT mention the name of the store - I don't want them getting into trouble. But I was in the store by myself. I did a little retail shopping, which I'll share with you either today or tomorrow - it depends on how much time I have this morning. 

Initially, I went to do curbside pickup, which went a bit further than the curb. I'm OK ...

I know we've all had those days. You have the best intentions, and you're fired up to get lots done. Then POOF! You need a mental health day! 

After I finished the writing assignment, I couldn't get myself motivated to do anything. I had to laugh, though, as I needed one last picture for the article, and I was going to take it outside. As I went to go outside, it had started to rain! So I had to wait! 

I wonder if my motivation had to do with going for a car ride. It was something ...

 Today was supposed to be the first day of a sewing retreat. Alas, that is not to be. I can't imagine being the owner of one of these places, as it's a scramble as some people have paid for the retreats; if things don't work out, new dates have to be scheduled—a total nightmare. I know from my perspective, it's been fun to book retreats. Last year we managed to get in FIVE retreats - the most in any year. This year? Well, it's just silly again. The back half of the year will be ...

 So much fun at Monday Sewing!  The big question will be once we are allowed to get back together again - will we? I'm not going to be a fan, but I'll wait and see what happens. The Zoom calls are just so much more efficient. 

I don't have a lot to show from yesterday; I trimmed up many more units for the Double Wedding Ring quilt, which I'll share another day. 

Let's have a look at the homework from Bonnie and Camille that took place on the weekend. 

Bonnie and Camille book

As usual, I ...

 Another glorious day even though my internet dropped twice! Once when I was prepping a presentation, and the other time I was on a Zoom call. Sigh.................   I suspect with it being Easter Sunday, many people were on Zoom, and the internet crashed because of being overloaded. Let's keep our fingers crossed that that was the reason!

I'm making progress on the homework assignments. Almost caught up, and I had better get it done today or by tomorrow at the latest. As I mentioned, we did have a sewing retreat planned for five days, and well - I want ...

 Stay CALM! You know you have a presentation all prepped and ready to go. You know that because you did the presentation last week. However, ONE hour before giving the same presentation, you can't find it. You have a meticulous filing system, and yet - where is it? As a matter of fact, where's the ENTIRE folder with all SIX presentations. 

After a wee bit of searching and coming up with Plan B while you do this, you discover the ENTIRE folder got moved into another folder. Thank goodness for keeping a cool head! All is well; the presentation ...

 I have a little bit of a routine in the morning. The rest of the day, not so much. Well, yesterday, when I was looking at my calendar and said I had NOTHING this weekend - I lied. I actually have two classes scheduled, and I need to see if they work on the day they are scheduled. While neither is huge, they do require prep work. 

First - I need to get all the follow-up done for last week. That's a task for today. One presentation tonight and LOTS of writing today. 

I have show and tell as well, but ...

One thing is certain, the year that just ended will have been full of twists and turns for most people. We’ve all had to face unimaginable challenges. It has also been a somewhat forced way to reinvent ourselves, to rethink our priorities and to find pleasure in the little things in life. For me, the … Continue reading "The year 2020 in review!"

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