What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I've been whining about my cutting table and how I can't seem to get it completely clear. Well, I've been whittling away at it, and this is what it looks like. Well, I should say, this is what it looked like last night. It looks even better this morning. 

The cutting table

The nice thing is that's it now only ONE layer that covers it! I hope you notice how much of the cutting mats we can see! Not a bunch of stuff stacked up. I'm going to keep whittling away and try to get ...

Oh my gosh -- we had so much fun at the Facebook Live event last night. I hope you were able to join us. YES -- I know I need to smile ALL THE TIME. My face just looks awful if I don't smile, but you forget! Oh well - it is what it is! 

Almost ready to start!

If you missed the presentation live, you can go back and watch it and see the fun stuff that happened while we did the Spectrum Quilt A Long. 

I'm not sure why I was so busy in the past - now it seems ...

 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 ...

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 ...

I was going to start the show and tell for Long Time Gone, but I have a couple of things to share with you. Then I'll start the show and tell tomorrow. There's too much to put in one day, so it'll span several days. 

Have you been out walking in your neighborhood lately? I've noticed two things that are springing up everywhere. Can you guess what they are?  

There are the FOR SALE or the SOLD signs. We've had a lot of that in our neighborhood. 

And there's the giant bin thing. 

Seriously ...

There are a lot of issues in the world. The biggest one right now is that the ENTIRE world is working its way through the pandemic. A lot of people are struggling with the stay-at-home order. It's a major inconvenience, to be sure, but it's not a hardship. I am extremely fortunate to live in a country where we have a pretty darn high standard of living and freedoms. Many of us have not lived through any kind of hardship. I wonder how society would cope if we actually suffered a major hardship?

I'm going to have ...

Have you ever taken a class and felt that it wasn't enough? You didn't get the confidence to do what you want to do, so you take another on the same subject? Yes, we all say (and it's often true) that we learn one more tidbit in that second class. But at what point is it enough and time to actually do something? 

I find the most often repeated class is free motion quilting. It amazes me how many people sign up for this class at their local store and then perhaps with another store or a ...

Oh my - I have the BEST friends in the world! And a lot of them showed up for the Virtual Retreat. We got to meet new people, we got to chat with people from Western Canada and many from Ontario and Germany. I want to thank EVERYONE who stopped by - I learned so much. And I honestly don't feel shut in at all. Yes - I get it that it's not the same as in person, but what is nice is that people change up each time and even throughout the day. That brings up all sorts of conversations ...

What a difference 24 hours can make. I snapped this photo when I was returning from our morning walk. I think there's a bit of a mixed message here. 

Let's get both meanings of Christmas in the same scene! 

The meaning of Christmas

I finished my last two presentations for the week yesterday. It's so much fun to chat with the ladies from across the country. I get to hear what's happening, and it sounds like Winnipeg is going to shut down starting Monday - similar rules to what we have in the Ontario hot spots. 

I just won't go there as I'm so frustrated with the entire picture. We went out to dinner last night. We were so far apart from other people, plexiglass between the booths, people wearing masks and handwashing - that it's crazy to think that ...

It was another great day! We had fun at our mini Sit and Sew. I call it a mini Sit and Sew because it's a very small group! And yesterday, it was just Lynn and me. We're trying to do our part about keeping our bubbles small. But it never fails; I seem to be in a whirlwind on every sew day. Or maybe I just notice it more because someone else is in the room. 

Murphy was having an issue in the backyard. She would NOT stop barking. I checked twice and couldn't see anything. But ...

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I want to say that I'm truly blessed. Why? Somewhere along the way, I learned to always look at the glass as half full. Oh - trust me - I face issues just like everyone else. I've just learned to NOT worry about stuff that I cannot change. I don't complicate my life, and I'm perfectly happy to use what I have instead of coveting something that I don't have. 

Oh - I'm not a saint by any means. I have days when the world is a big bad place, and I want to stay in ...

OH, MY GOD!!!!!  I decided to buckle down and get some work done. Depending on what I'm doing, I'll open up an audiobook. I'll listen for a couple of hours, and then I get bored. I never listen to audiobooks in bed, and I never listen when I'm walking the dogs.

However, I had to throw all those rules out the window yesterday. This book is a PAGE TURNER like I've never read before. It's called The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica. WHOA -- she writes a very twisted physiological thriller. I keep changing the ...

I had the best day ever! Well, that seems to be a theme around my house most days! But I hosted a mini-sewing day. Yep - most of us are totally cooped up in our homes with tiny social bubbles, and we have a group that we went to retreat with. So Claudette and Lynn came over to sew. Yes, Zoom keeps me sane and in touch with everyone, but it was so exciting to see and chat with actual people.

So you're not all panicking, here are my thoughts on this pandemic. We will ALL get COVID at some ...

H, OH!!!!!  I'm so EXCITED!!!!  Can you guess why? Sometime yesterday afternoon, the ban on short term rentals in Ontario was lifted! Oh, happy day!!!  That means that the next scheduled REAL quilting retreat can take place. We did have one planned for next week, but some of the people coming work during the day and they had to rearrange their vacations. I doubt their bosses would be too happy if we switched around again. Besides - we do NOT know any of the rules and restrictions that come with this development. I can easily wait three more weeks!

Needless ...

What's on my reading list at the moment? I'm reading The Missing Millionaire by Katie Daubs. It's a book about a Toronto businessman who owned theatres at the beginning of the 20th century. He sold one of his theatres for $1 million in December 1919 and then disappeared. They never found him or his body. Because there was money involved, the story just never died. Family members fighting over money, shysters trying to get money through the family and well - it just never seemed to end.

It's an interesting read as you get some insight into ...

I solved my computer mouse problem by putting a book under the mouse. For some reason, it no longer wants to run on my desktop. No worries - I'm good with that. An easy and inexpensive fix! I would hope that in our current environment that we're all going to be finding ways to fix things rather than buy a new product.

I can't say that I'm surprised, but I'm a bit taken aback at how the BUY NOW e-mails keep coming through every day. Store owners - I know you're hurting. We're all hurting ...

If you're not familiar with this app on your smartphone, you should be. It allows a group to stay connected with each other. I now have two groups - one for my Monday sewing and we get to see what each other is working on. Not everyone is on the app - that's their loss because it's a lot of fun. The second is our virtual retreat group. I can't wait for the virtual retreat to start! I need to finish getting prepped. I have a week!

And NOW I have a third group. Our little family! When ...

I"m having a first world problem this morning. My mouse is not cooperating as well as I would like! Thankfully I have a touch screen on the computer so that makes life a little bit easier. I've tested the battery and it seems to be fine. It's just not happy - works sometimes and then it doesn't. Oh well......

Wasn't that a fabulous show and tell from our Virtual UFO meeting? Seriously - if you have a group that meets regularly - consider setting up a Whatsapp group. It's a free app for your smartphone. A very ...

I LOVE my new headphones. They truly have made a huge difference in listening to audiobooks. No more worries about having the volume up too high, no cord to get on anything, and no missing any part of the audiobook because I was at the long arm or the embroidery machine. They were definitely worth every penny I paid for them. I haven't had to charge them yet - supposedly to last for 30 hours.

I'm now at 41% of The Goldfinch. 13 hours done and 19 to go. It's a LONG book with loads of description, but ...