What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Oh my—we had an exhausting day! We started at 9 AM, and some people were wrapping up 12 hours later! YES—everyone was brain dead, but I think everyone learned a ton, and that's what it was all about! I thought I had hit the wall, but then most of us sat around and chatted for another hour or so, and it was all very nice! 

It's always a challenge when you invite a group of people, most of whom don't know each other, and hope it all works out. But everyone has a common interest ...

And I'm home again! That was the shortest "retreat" I've been on for a long time. But it was also the correct length for what it was! We only went for a weekend when we started going to retreats in 2006 - almost TWENTY years ago. That was too short, so now we go for six nights. Neither the machine embroidery workshop participants nor I could handle six days of learning machine embroidery! 

We were learning design positioning, and I was hopping around the room like a crazy person. But it was all good. 

The most important thing for ...

Thank goodness those links worked. I even tested them myself, but that was a weird situation. It had never happened to me before, and then it happened twice in the same post! 

I'm pleased to report that the machine embroidery workshop is a rousing success! Even the more experienced are going home with some new knowledge. It's been loads of fun, and we have another exciting adventure this morning. I will adjust the schedule for the one in May, but that is all. 

I usually sleep like a log here, but I was awake the night before for ...

OK  -- that is so weird about the links. Something is happening that reverts them back to my blog. 

Let me try this one more time. 

Quiltcon Winners

If the link does not work, search for QuiltCon Winners 2025. The link will pop up. 

The same with the Dignity Sculpture. Google search that topic, and the link will pop up. 

I have no idea why the links are reverting back to the blog. If they don't work today, that's three days in a row that the link has been reverted back. Do you have any suggestions, my IT friends ...

Here's an interesting question from the comments: If you could be any age, what would it be and why? I think that should be under 10. Of course, the lives of today's children are so different from our childhood. What age would I want to be? I think 5. I would be old enough to be semi-independent but young enough to be in total wonder of the world! 

One of the most significant issues with growing up is maintaining that sense of wonder? Hopefully, you have the choice to be yourself and have parents, teachers, and friends who ...

There has been much discussion about friends at this retreat. What is a friend? Do you have a friend you could call at 3 a.m. if you need help? As we went about our business yesterday, I looked at my pencil. Oh my!!!

Oh my!!!

I got quite a chuckle from that. 

But a bit of chaos happened at the house earlier in the day. You know what I'm talking about if you saw the picture on Facebook. Those red chairs around the firepit were calling for someone to sit in them. I had no takers. Seriously? We ...

Oh my --- you know what they say - what happens at the retreat, stays at the retreat, but I have a couple of things to share. The first is all about the water. Yes, we had a considerable discussion about drinking water - how much is too much? How do you test it? Do you need salt? All kinds of things. 

And this might be too much information for you, but here's the scoop. In the past, I would have been lucky if I had drank one of my water bottles daily. (sip, sip!). My water coach was only here for ...

WAIT—do I need to absorb the water I'm drinking? I need to get more information on that! Thanks, Linda, for that tip. I will check it out. Yesterday, I drank three containers, equivalent to 12 glasses of water. 

I think I can get into the habit, and I think I'm good with three containers a day. I just looked at the salt thing online and must do more research. How does one determine if you retain (and how much) that water to stay hydrated or just need to be in your body to flush stuff out? Questions ...

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day. It seemed like I spent a lot of time on my phone—yes, my cell phone, which does not work at my house. It actually doesn't work well in my neighborhood, but it works just fine elsewhere. 

This means it's the connection to the tower, which I was told a while back. I need to be persistent in getting my provider to fix the connection. But sometimes, it's nice not to have a working phone! It's a good excuse not to talk to people—not that I don ...

Oh my gosh -- two excellent stories about using the good stuff or getting rid of it - read the comments from yesterday! And yes - it was a thing to pick that china pattern! But so much of it never got used. I'm excited to see Tammy using it every day, and I bet you think of your grandmother! 

So here I am in the big room at Springhouse Retreat and blog writing. I've been up for a while but haven't started sewing yet as I have some work to get done. That was a challenge as I'm ...

Thanks for the vote of confidence on my split 9-patch! I'm going to cut more strips and continue! 

The last day of the retreat is always sad because everyone has to go home. But it's also exciting because you get to come home, unpack, and see everything you did! 

Before I came home, I was determined to go through that bag of Oh Canada scraps and sort it out. This is what happened. 

I found several bags with pieces from various projects, but it was a hodgepodge. I unsewed any pieces that were sewn together. I also found ...

As of this morning, at 6 AM, I have not touched ONE project I brought with me. WOW—can you believe how well I packed? It was another very successful day, and I'm excited. However, I'm also learning (well, I know this) that having a plan is vital! 

In the past - long, long ago - I would flit from project to project. In my "new" life, I'm pretty good at sticking to one thing. I don't get distracted by what others are doing. I'm focused. There has to be a plan, or I will never get ...

I'm happy to report that my neck is feeling better. It's still sore, but it really only affects me when I first get up or when I put my head down, like on the pillow or lying on the floor to do my exercises. I just support my head, and all is good. 

YES - I've been stretching with the foam roller before bed, and I'm feeling much better. I've barely scratched the surface of what I will get into with the new exercise regime. I''m pretty excited about it. It's the bloating in ...

 Oh gosh—I just realized I'm eating my breakfast in front of my new laptop. That means there's going to be a mess of splashed milk! So I must be cautious!!! The bowl is moved off to the side! 

This is the most productive (knock on wood) retreat I've been to in a long, long time. I dug into the second bag of projects as I had finished everything in the first one, and I'll be taking that to the car later today. There is no sense in keeping all this crap in the house, and ...

It's an interesting retreat. Heck, all retreats are interesting, but they are always different. It's never the exact same group of people who attend. It's funny, as when I first started going to retreats almost 20 years ago, we were a set group of nine people, and we went together for years. Then things happened, and that group fell apart. Now, we have a larger group of people; it's never the same mix each time. That makes it interesting! 

How am I feeling? I'm pretty good. I'm realizing that I can't sit well ...

Late—I'm going to be late this morning. No, not because I was sleeping. Oh no—chatting! I accomplished stuff yesterday and actually accomplished what I planned. However, I did my fair share of chatting, and well, isn't that what a quilt retreat is all about? So I'm good with that!!!

I am still thrilled with what I'm accomplishing, and that's all that counts. So what did I get done? Have a look. 

I got all the flannel I brought sewn into squares. There are 107 squares measuring 6 1/2", so that's a ...

Well, this is my first blog on the new computer. All is good—I'm connected to the Wi-Fi at the retreat house. What is impressive—well, not really—is that everything is FAST!!! My goal will be to keep the crap out of the memory and the storage to keep it fast! 

By the way, we are at the Springhouse Retreat in New Hamburg. It's a great place to sew! I got a chuckle when I went to bed. Some people have mentioned that my bedroom is cold, so imagine my surprise when I saw winter-themed flannel sheets ...

Hey, it's good to be back home again! If you want to hear John Denver sing it, check this out. I still find it amazing that you can find pretty much everything and anything online! He died in 1997, and while the internet wasn't what it is today, it was still there! So that makes sense, I suppose. 

We had loads of wind yesterday, but nothing that transpired into a storm—at least not where I was or where I live now. 

We had the windows open at the retreat house, and at several points, what we were ...

Today is our last day at the retreat (Springhouse Retreat), and then I'm home for 3 1/2 weeks before I need to go anywhere. I'm almost giddy knowing that! The vertigo is still there but very mild. I can feel it on the periphery of my brain, if that makes sense. So, I'll look at those exercises when I'm home to try and get rid of it completely. 

Yesterday was one of those days! I was having an issue with a tool that I needed to finish my blog posts, and my ingenuity solved it ...

The vertigo is better and seems only to affect me if I bend down. My world no longer spins behind closed eyes while lying in bed. But I need to watch some of the links/sources you are providing. It's one of those things—do I want to cut into my sewing time or watch the video? How silly of me! My health should be a priority!

OK—so I had some real sewing at the treat yesterday. I had gotten to a point on my QUILTsocial posts that I couldn't progress further without another tool, which I ...