What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Should I say "be careful what you wish for?" We went from winter to high summer overnight! Yesterday was a blistering hot day with lots of sun! What a change, and I think we have heat today and tomorrow, and then back to mid-teens! That's OK -- it's nice to walk around in shorts and sweat!

It was an interesting day, and for some reason, I decided it was important to spend time gardening, which was NOT on my to-do list. But that's OK. It's stuff that needed to be done. 

First, let me give you an ...

I see I am not the only one who pushes the long arm to the limits! Yes—you can get away with minimal excess on the backing, BUT only if it is your quilt and you are the operator! It's fiddly, and you must babysit that thing along all the edges! And sometimes things happen, like when the pin (I no longer use clamps) that holds the elastic grip on the side gets caught on the machine bed. I had to do a wee bit of ripping yesterday. But not a big deal because I was standing there and ...

Let's start with the puzzle stores - actually, there are many sources of puzzles, but here are the main ones that I know of. 

Puzzles Canada - Georgetown. A warehouse of puzzles that is open to the public, and they sell MANY brands, sizes, and offer free shipping over a certain amount. You also get 10% back in reward points, which you can apply to any future purchase. They also sell The Occurrence puzzles, which are made in Merrickville, Ontario. HIGHLY recommend visiting the store or the website. Check the website for hours as they do NOT open until NOON. 

Puzzle ...

Alright - Mother Nature! We've had enough! I turned the heat off yesterday morning, but I had to turn it back on later in the day. It never got above 10 degrees Celsius, and it's just cold with the wind. I see the temperature will go up later today, and the sun will come out, which will help. With all the rain, clouds, and wind, those low temps are cold! 

While it was a day for errands in the car, I also managed to start the appliqué. I got the stars done for both blocks. 

Progress on the appliqué ...

Something very bizarre happened yesterday, and it sure gave me pause for thought. We only have one home phone, which sits in the living room. We do hear it ring, but never answer it. There is an answering machine attached to it, and I check it from time to time. It's mostly junk if there are any messages at all. I heard the phone ring and the announcement that it was Bell calling. I had heard this the day before, so I was wondering if they were trying to contact me. 

I thought I had better try to catch ...

Happy Mother's Day

I must say, it feels great to get back to sewing, and, well, I just picked a "random" project to work on. Actually, it's on my Visual To-Do list under UFO, so I'm allowed to work on it! I had picked five projects under the UFO category, and my plan is to finish them all this year. They are in various states of completion. 

When I first started the sew-along quilts, in year two (2004), we did something different. Instead of choosing one large quilt, we picked two small quilts from a four-season collection ...

Out with the snowmen, it's February; love and hearts have replaced them on the tabletops and kitchen windowsill! And yet, while all of that is true, here is the greater question:Thank you so much, blogger friends and those in real life who've reached out to inquire about my whereabouts and well-being. I'm fine, just as busy as I've ever been. I had taken on quite a few outside longarm

Out with the snowmen, it's February; love and hearts have replaced them on the tabletops and kitchen windowsill! And yet, while all of that is true, here is the greater question:Thank you so much, blogger friends and those in real life who've reached out to inquire about my whereabouts and well-being. I'm fine, just as busy as I've ever been. I had taken on quite a few outside longarm

Another exciting and entertaining day at my house! HEY -- any day can be exciting and entertaining. Did you know that WE alone have the control as to how each day turns out? It's all in how you look at it. You can see doom and gloom or you can look at these days as days of leisure. Haven't we all dreamed of days where we had nothing to do and no responsibilities? Well - that's kind of what this feels like.

I do have commitments even though I can't go anywhere and I'm working on those ...

Slow and steady - everything gets done when you work slow and steady. And a bit of focus helps a whole lot.

I'm hosting two sew-along groups and I send out the homework on a Friday. Fortunately and through NO planning on my part, the Fridays have alternated. I send the homework every second Friday to one group and the first Friday of the month to the other group. I'm sure at some point that those dates will end up in the same week, but that's OK. What I'm impressing myself to death with is that I ...

So it was pouring rain yesterday morning. Even the girls did NOT want to go outside. That's very unusual, but it was wet! However once the rain went away and the sun came out, people came out of their houses in droves! The girls and I went for a long walk and at some point, there were so many people to "dodge" on the streets, that everyone was crossing what is normally a fairly busy street at random intervals to keep our social distancing.

It was great to see so many people out - I just hope that people will ...

WOW -- I'm almost speechless at what is happening in the world. Yesterday, it seemed that every minute there was a new development - a closure, a cancellation, reduced hours, services shut down. It was getting to the point that I was afraid to check e-mail. However, it's all for a good cause - we need to get a handle on flattening the curve and many companies have stepped up to the plate to make that happen. Individuals have done the same. My gym is closed! ACK!!!!  But walking outdoors is still an option and even though the weather is yucky ...

Have you ever have one of those days? Nothing seems to go right and you're just out of sorts with the world? That seemed to be the start of my day yesterday. However, I had a good chat with myself in the afternoon - literally I talked to myself out loud to snap out of it and I felt much better afterward. Good thing no one was privy to that conversation.

I think this quote fits me perfectly for yesterday. I wasn't all here, but after the chat - I was.

Quote of the day

So if you have a totally productive day, but you don't work on what you had planned, is that still a productive day?

In the morning, I trimmed two quilts intending to get the bindings on them. I also have a couple of other quilts that need to be bound that I was hoping to deliver to Quilts of Valour today. And I wanted to make the backing for that Dresden Plate quilt.

NONE of that got done. There are no deadlines for any of that stuff, so I'm not worried.

But what did I do? Well - I ...

Yes - I should be following my own words. I keep saying, I'm going to clean up the office and get everything organized and yet I continue to procrastinate. I'm a maker and I want to be making stuff all the time. Yet - I want this mess cleaned up as well so it's less frustrating. So I need to take the bull by the horns and just do it or stop complaining!!! Thanks, Elle for the pep talk! I don't have time this weekend - well, I have a free day tomorrow - perhaps I could spend ONE hour ...