What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

WOW -- I can't say enough for the inspiration I receive through the Virtual Retreats. Not only that, but I've made new friends, been able to stay connected to other friends, and keep in touch with friends that no longer live close by. While it would be great to see everyone in person, getting that group together would be impossible! I love Virtual Retreats.

I'm going to whisper this next sentence. I ALMOST like the virtual retreats to our in-person sewing days. Why? We get to visit with each other, but we don't have any of the ...

What a super day we had yesterday. I don't think we had any new faces on our Zoom Virtual Retreat, but gosh, it's so nice to check in with everyone. We had people connect all the way from Germany to Cochrane, Alberta. Hello everyone!!!! So great to see everyone and thanks for stopping by to chat. I feel like I really know you all!!!

Don't be shy - you don't have to stay and sew, just pop in to say HI. It's great fun to get to know some of you a little bit better, and ...

I know that some of you are missing in-person visits with family and friends - the sit and sew days, the laughter, the camaraderie, the sharing of stories. Well, I can't say that I'm missing that at all. While the Virtual Retreat isn't the same as seeing people in person, it comes pretty darn close.

To be honest, I kind of like the whole virtual thing. Why? Loads of reasons - where else would we be able to visit with people all the way from Germany to Vancouver Island and loads of places in between? Nowhere else. Where else ...

I learn all kinds of things at the Virtual Retreat. Everyone is such a wealth of information and inspiration.

I want to start by giving you a day trip option. As you know, many (OK - ALL) events have been canceled. That includes the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) convention, which was to be held in Toronto in March. That was back in the days when the organizers were wishy-washy about canceling events. Now - there is NO choice. Cancel!

An exhibition of art quilts was put together specifically for that conference. Alas - we never got to see the quilts. However, I ...

Wow -- this month (like all the others) is marching on and waiting for no one. If we don't take advantage of today, well - it won't be there tomorrow! I try to take advantage of every minute, but don't worry - I do get some downtime in there. I actually picked up a REAL book yesterday. I had let three audiobooks expire without reading them. I just couldn't bear the thought of reading. And I certainly had not picked up a physical book to read in weeks.

Why? I bet it's because of all the time I ...

Oh my gosh -- I don't remember when I had so much fun at home in isolation! We had another fantastic day with the Virtual Retreat via Zoom. People were coming and going all day, and I know I missed chatting with a couple of them. Sorry for that - it's just that at times, the conversation was super busy and others where I had to babysit the long arm! So I didn't get to visit with everyone.

Did I learn stuff? Oh, yes - you bet. The most exciting thing I learned was how to override the shut-off on ...

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What a FUN filled day!!! Thanks to EVERYONE who logged in to share the virtual retreat experience. Nina joined us from Germany again - so fun to see what's going on in Europe. And Lucy joined us from Alabama - LOVE that southern accent. And loads from Ontario. A few new faces and lots of existing friends. They popped in and out all day!!

What I love about this is that it doesn't matter where in the world you live, you can join in. And wherever you are in the world, we are all experiencing the same thing with ...

If you've been following the blog the last couple of days, you've probably seen The Crafty Bear! No - it's not a person - it's FABRIC. You can see on the selvage that it was designed by Debbie Mumm. Yes - it definitely has a Debbie Mumm feel. It was made for Jo-Ann Fabrics. The year? It's not on the single selvage piece that I have, but it's been a while!  If you don't believe me, go to her web site, and it almost feels like that crafty bear fabric is on the front page.

Designed ...

NO - the Virtual Retreat is OVER!!!  Oh my gosh - it was an amazing five days of catching up with friends, meeting new friends, information gathering, and general frivolity! I had such a great time, and from the e-mails and messages that I received from everyone who participated, they also enjoyed it.

As a matter of fact, we all had so much fun that we all want to do it again!!! I'm going to schedule more dates, and they are going to be sooner than you think! So watch for those. I won't do five days again - I did ...

What can I say? It was another AMAZING day of fun and frivolity at the Virtual Sewing Retreat. As much as I LOVE going to the real retreat, the Virtual one has a totally different flavor, and we have people dropping in from all over. Nina from Germany was back, and we had Daphne join us from Vancouver Island. And then a lot of others joined in and out throughout the day. I finally had to "kick" them off the call way past the initially planned closing time! But that was OK -- it was loads of fun.

If you get ...

H MY GOD -- we had so much fun yesterday at the Virtual Sewing Retreat. Fran from Sudbury poped in, Mary from Scarborough, Carol from Parry Sound, Susan from London, and many others more local and are too numerous to mention. Sorry!!!  But what a fun time. OK - so I didn't get a lot of sewing done, and I'm perfectly OK with that. 

It was great to actually have a NORMAL conversation with a group. I love it!!!!

We got to see other people's sewing rooms, projects, pets, and a whole lot of stuff. We got to sew ...

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I love hosting the Virtual Retreat!!!  Now that my commitments are out of the way, I can actually enjoy the entire day!!!

I finished the editing and presentation prepping in the early morning. When I did start the retreat at 9 AM, it was to get the binding and the sleeve on the magazine quilt.

The quilt got packed in a box, and then I went to print the labels for shipping the box. Oh, boy - that was an experience. It's super easy to put all the information into the online form, but when I went to ...

ownMy apologies to whoever tried to dial into the Zoom call last night after 8 PM. No one had been on for a while, and I decided to nip out for a walk! I shall be ending the calls at 8 PM just so I can get that walk in. I should have thought about that when I did my planning. I'm averaging 6 miles these days, and so I'm going to have to make up some time when this week is over. Also, the heat didn't help, as I wasn't walking the dogs in the ...

Today was the day we were supposed to drive up to the Fireside Retreat house. Due to the current crisis, that isn't happening. Our next retreat is June 10 - 14, but I have a feeling that isn't going to happen either. So we keep rolling the dates until ONE DAY, we'll be allowed to expand our bubble.

Let's just say that if I were going to the retreat today - I'd be in trouble. I'm still writing, although I'm almost done. Still working on the presentation that popped up out of nowhere to create ...

Here's the problem with freelance work. You have a lot of bosses, and you want to keep them all happy, but which ones get priority? Well, the job with the most pressing deadline is the one on top. It's when several of them start conflicting that the issue arises, and of course, you still want to do some stuff for yourself! I"m in a wee bit of that situation at the moment. Focus - get one out of the way and then work on the other! Thankfully, I don't get stressed and am good at juggling this ...

I do NOT recommend my style to anyone. I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world. I think I have loads of time, which I do, more or less. Procrastination doesn't leave a whole lot of room for error! So one learns to not make errors to live with them. While I'm also not bad with scheduling (OK - I could be better

I'm optimistic. I have no reason to be optimistic, but that's better than being pessimistic! Oh - I have a good reason to be optimistic. The stores are opening up today and that means that things are starting to get back to normal.

My quilting retreat that was to take place next week got canceled. While our economy is slowly starting to reopen, short term stays are still not allowed. So, like I did the last time the retreat got canceled, I'm going to have a virtual retreat. Last time, that meant, I prepped and packed as if ...

It's a sad day - the last day of our retreat. While I'm ready to go "home", I always hate the last day. Packing up the car and last-minute sewing to get another part of the project done. But alas - it's the end - for this time. I still have four retreats booked for this year.

Honestly, this virtual sewing retreat has been a HUGE learning curve for me. Well, not so much a learning curve as a revelation. Here's what I learned:

1. I can survive a five-day retreat with ONE laundry basket of projects. Just BE REALISTIC ...

I'm exhausted! This focusing thing is going to kill me, but I'm determined! I swear it's the audiobook! I finished the novel I was reading and moved onto the last audiobook on my shelf. I'm going to have to find another one soon. The book is non-fiction called Salt, Sugar, Fat. It's about how the food industry has engineered food to make us crave more of the bad stuff and how they target their advertising, etc. to make us want more!

Oh - I'm totally aware of it all but it's very interesting to ...

I'm surprised, but then I'm not surprised. I love to sew and I love having the opportunity to sew totally uninterrupted. And that's what we do when we go to the retreat. However, I think I'm the ONLY one sewing! But that's OK.

Our current situation of self-isolation is one where we need to learn to take ourselves somewhere else. We can't travel, so why not pretend that we are traveling. And that's what I did. I make it to the "retreat" by 9 AM after I walk the girls and then I ...