What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

OH!!!! I'm an idiot! OK -- maybe not an idiot, but I completely forgot there's a Virtual Retreat TODAY!!! I usually post about it and post the links several days in advance, and it slipped my mind. I didn't put it in the calendar, and I say I'm on top of things!!! Watch for the links at the end.

 And I'm behind this morning—it was a weird night. I woke up in the middle of the night - completely wide awake. I lay there for a while thinking perhaps I'm not really ready to get ...

 The blog is late this morning, and that's OK. Why? Well, I had borrowed a book from the library (an ebook on Libby) a month or more ago. It's by Riley Sager - Final Girls. His books are creepy — when you look up 'psychological thriller' in the dictionary, his books should be listed. Anyway - it got a bit too weird for me, so I let the book lapse. 

Then I decided to retrieve it and continue. Well, after having a nap on the plane because I had been up so early. I started reading on the plane. Oh my ...

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 ...

 As I prepared to take the girls for their morning walk, I contemplated how to dress. The temperature was minus 19, with a wind chill of minus 26 or something like that. I'm pretty good for my head (a Tilley hat is the best, although it should probably be replaced as the ear flaps are stretched), but the tightly wound scarf keeps that all in check; my recycled pop-bottle coat is toasty warm, but what about my legs? 

Then I remembered some wind pants in the closet and checked them out. Good grief - there were TWO pairs of pants ...

I really don't know what makes Outlook sync. I suspect it's some kind of time thing, or perhaps it's related to activity. I haven't really looked into it, but maybe I will. The more one understands something, the more opportunity you have to fix it when things go wrong! OK, I had a quick peek—I didn't understand a thing. I must go back! 

Yesterday was a brutal day physically! And it wasn't a bad day, just brutal. Surprisingly, my shoulders and arms are not sore despite all the upper body stuff we did ...

Excellent news this morning! Yesterday was the winter solstice, meaning the sun rises a little earlier each day! I also have to be thankful that I live south of where my parents live, so the sun rises earlier than in Saskatchewan!

While I had "stuff" to do yesterday, I took the day off and sewed all day! I'm working on my UFO, which is due tomorrow, but despite having a specific goal, I'm doing something else—the same project but another part. You'll see it after I show it to the group tomorrow. All I can say ...

I am shocked! I bought a cream that was recommended by my friends who have had nerve issues in the past. What can a cream do? Very skeptically, I applied some to my affected area. It took a while to take effect, but it made the day much more pleasant. It's called LivRelief, and you can bet that I'll be using it. I may not even need that stick for the flight home! There is a light at the end of the tunnel - at least for today. 

Thanks to everyone who recommended that product. It's not a ...

It makes me chuckle while I'm here. Whenever I come, I think, "That's it—we've got everything figured out." Then I return, only to find that new things have popped up. These things are simple to us, but to aging parents—one housebound, with a mindset still in the 40s, and the other who doesn't like change—life is a challenge. 

It's so bizarre because my Dad is into computers, and you would think he would be fascinated by the self-checkouts and ATMs, but NO - he wants human contact when he shops. So, there will ...

Let's say it was NOT memorable from a pleasure point of view. I knew it would be an uncomfortable trip and was not disappointed. 

I'm happy to report that I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was at the gate at least 60 minutes BEFORE the flight was to leave. Positively loads of time. However, the airport was busy (Monday morning), and more and more people have NEXUS passes, so that line was long, but not nearly as long as the other one. It took time to get through security, but again, I ...

WAIT -- there's a Virtual Retreat tonight and tomorrow, and I kept forgetting to put it in the blog this past week. DUH!!!! So much for the warning. I'll be working away, so if no one shows up, I'm OK with that. The link will be at the end of the post. 

 The decluttering stopped DEAD! Was that because DH was home? Was that because I had a deadline to meet and struggled with passive writing versus active writing? Or was it just time to take a break? I think it was a bit of everything. HOWEVER, I ...

OH -- I got a chuckle from an email someone sent me about dressing in layers. We all know that dressing in layers outdoors is a huge factor in staying warm. The extra air pockets between layers, as well as the extra layer, hold the warm. If you need ventilation, open a zipper and get some air. Then zip up when you need to. 

But what about in your house? This is hilarious, and yet it's not. There are people, and I will NOT name names here, that feel it's OK to just crank up the heat in your ...

 Another great day with the sergers! Today is the last day of my SVP events for the year, and it's one of my favorites -- we get to play with the mySewnet software! And I hope I left my power cord for the laptop at the store because I do NOT see it in my backpack! I remember winding it up, and I probably left it on the table because I was distracted while talking. I've been known to do that. It's not a problem today, but I better not do that tonight when I pack up!

I ...

I think temperature quilts are super fun!  If you aren't familiar with temperature quilts, the concept is to record the temperatures for every day in fabric. Makers create their own rules beyond that. Some considerations include: 

• Pattern/block design: pieced or appliqued
  
• Include high and low temps
• Precipitation- part of the block design or embroidered
• Month markers
• Special days
• Additional text: pieced, appliqued, embroidered, inked
  

Take a look at #tempquilt or #temperaturequilt on Instagram for a plethora of inspiration.  

Riley's quilt is the third temp quilt I've made, but the first one I'm blogging about. The ...

I had to laugh several times since I arrived. Torontonians would fail miserably if they had to live in Calgary. Calgarians are TOUGH, as no one seems to dress up for winter! In the airport, many people were wandering without jackets. I get it -- their coat could be in their luggage, but even though it was a cold day, no one seemed to mind. I saw airport office staff outside with no jackets, and no one seems cold. 

Now at the hotel, people are in and out without winter gear. And some of them are even wearing shorts, shoes with ...

I need to catch up in answering the comments, and there are some exciting ones! And yes, Elle, I know what you mean about keeping the place clean. I was doing a great job until I went away last week and came home with new stuff to deal with. It doesn't help that I have a few extra sergers at the moment that don't belong to me, and they take up space. 

I puttered a bit yesterday and got more stuff put away, so I'm in good shape. Having a home for everything is exciting and makes ...

 I should schedule some time to go through ALL my quilts and take pictures of them, whether they are finished or in the "to be quilted" stage. Then I need to zero in on the details of those that are noteworthy! That would save me digging through all the tubs! But then I must also search through all my existing photos and tag and sort them. But I don't have the time for that! So I must sort and file the ones I take so I don't have to retake those. 

I'm pretty good about it, but ...

What a change in the weather! We went from warm temps and clear, dry roads and sidewalks to NASTY. The temperature dropped; we had freezing rain and a bit of snow. A perfect combination for nasty walking. 

I had to go out last night to drop something off and pick something up. There was no freezing rain then, but it rained the entire way, so it was very wet on the highway. Not a fun drive, but it could have been a lot worse!! The temperature was hovering at zero. 

What did I pick up? All I can say is ...

 OK -- the quilt is done, but it's still on the long arm. I didn't have time to get it off as I have two more presentations this morning, and prepping them was my priority. I'll take it off later today. 

I'm going to take responsibility for the fact that the backing needed to be fixed ON the machine, and I'll take responsibility for the fact that I should NEVER have loaded this because I should have checked. I made an ASSUMPTION as this customer always provides loads of backing. How did I fix it? 

Well ...

You know, there are days when it seems nothing goes right. Well, that was NOT yesterday - at least not in the morning. This is a story about a quilt. The quilt does not belong to me, and I'm not picking on the owner -- it's just one of those quilts that well -- it just doesn't want to get finished. 

This is a giant quilt - it's 99 by 109.5. I was making excellent progress yesterday -- I was ahead of the game, and by lunchtime, I had started quilting the quilt and had a couple of rows done ...

I have my cycling clothes on and getting ready to go to the gym for spin class. It's back to the routine schedule. I've been slacking off for the last two weeks with the walking and spinning. It was rare that I made the daily goal of 11.5 KM of walking while away, but I did aim for 10,000 steps in a day! No big deal. 

I recently heard of someone's husband who had a cycling accident. He hit a bump in the road and went head over handlebars. He ended up bruised, scraped, and ...