What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

In all the years I've been posting to this blog, I've never had an issue with writer's block. How could I when my life is crazy? And it sure helps to look on the bright side of everything. I have behind-the-scenes issues and concerns just like everyone else, but I choose to keep them behind the scenes and keep their impact on my life small. 

I've so much to share today! First -- to catch up on those couple of photos I've been promising. Here's the first one - the keyboard situation. 

Have you ever looked at a task as a whole and just about fainted because of what you have taken on? Oh yes -- that can be the most daunting thing in the world. How will I ever walk the equivalent of the distance across Canada? How will I ever finish these UFOs? The whole thing looks too much, and we fall off the wagon. 

I want to show you what happens when you take one small step at a time. You MUST keep that end goal in the back of your mind, but you can't let it get you ...

OH my -- the car issue!! I saw another GREAT comment this morning, and I had an in-person chat about the car situation with someone else. While we could become a one-car family technically, I'm not sure we're quite there yet. In terms of use, YES, but in terms of "what's mine is yours" and "what's yours is mine" - we're not there yet! I'll tell him to start looking!! 

Now -- do NOT blame if you spend some money here. Over the years, I've bought yardage on sale, so I could use it for quilt ...

Hmmm --- there's a price to pay for being cooped up during COVID. I also want to mention that I got outside every day during the shutdown. That's just part of my daily routine -- rain, snow, sleet, sun, heat - whatever, I'm out there. 

But here's what I'm learning - while walking is a great exercise, it doesn't compare to cycling. I must have pushed extra hard in the spin class to get my 30 KM, but I was exhausted for the rest of the day! 

Well, it didn't help that I ended up having breakfast ...

 It was a very long day, and well, the days have the same number of hours, but the number of things to do doesn't seem to get less. Now, why is that? I know people say that I'm doing too much, but I'm not on ANY committees; I'm not doing many magazine quilts these days, although I'm still designing and making them. It's just stuff in general. Trying to keep on top of it all, and that's never going to happen, so I'll just muddle along. Honestly - it's the small, seemingly ...

I had such a great day yesterday! I felt like I could tackle the world, and while I didn't solve any global issues, I accomplished loads! Had some great conversations with the Long Time Gone class, and well - it was a great day! Let's see what happened. 

Oh, first - I want to share some walking stuff. Here's the thing about the virtual challenges -- I'm learning TONS about the geography in the areas in which I walk. I'm currently walking the Appalachian Trail, which goes through the mountains along the eastern part of the United States ...

Oh my -- I'm losing it! Why? I'm so focused that I'm not thinking of everything that I have to do. 

When Diane dropped off the mask the other day, I had a small thing to do for her. I totally forgot about it. I'm meeting up with someone today and totally forgot that I have to put the binding on her quilt. Oh well!! And they say focusing is a good thing!  

I have to say that it's been great to have this mini-vacation - even though I didn't go anywhere. There are no presentations ...

Wow-what a marathon day! I'm happy to report that some writing got done - not as much as I would have liked, but enough to keep the class happy and get them started on the homework. Three of four presentations are done, and one was presented last night - I'll post the show and tell tomorrow. One more still needs a bit of work - I have until 1 PM today to get that done. WAIT - I have two presentations between now and then! Oh well - I can make it work. 

I have to say that it's going to be ...

 It's a bit too early to start reflecting on what happened this past year. And I'm sure that many don't even want to go there. 

However, here's some interesting food for thought. Two days ago, I finished my 2020 challenge with The Conqueror. It initially started out as a cycling goal of 3,000 miles for 2020. When things started shutting down, I lost my spin class mileage, and my cycle trip was canceled. I needed to rethink that goal. I started counting my walking mileage. I did feel like I was double-dipping on this, but ...

I'm not sure where this came from, but I have a Quilter's SIXTH sense. Too often, I've just winged something because I was too lazy to do the math. I forged ahead and figured if I ran into trouble that I'd come up with Plan B. Well, it happened this morning. I can't show you the picture because it's for my UFO homework, but I worked on a border.

The pattern said I needed FOUR sections, and I only had three. Now what? Well, I went ahead with the three sections. I sewed and ...

The spin class was interesting yesterday. There's a maximum of 10 people per class. It's a large room that can hold 70 bikes plus the front part where the instructor sits. Only the back two rows were being used, with half of the room empty. AH - it appears that they are also doing yoga in this room. Yep - they have a massive yoga room, but only 10 people are allowed in the room. It's very frustrating. But I'm not letting it get me down. The gym and the instructors have been very accommodating by adding extra ...

I don't know why it takes me so long to try on something new or use something new that I've purchased. Those new running shoes have sat on the kitchen table for two weeks now. I finally got myself together and tried them yesterday. They fit perfectly! I LOVE them. They are Sketcher's, and I bought them at Mark's. 

The old and the new

I'm such a dolt! I'm laughing as I say that! I don't know how many times I reserve an audiobook and then realize that it's an e-book! I swear I'm in the audiobook only database. I finished another audiobook yesterday and was trying to open the next "audiobook." OH NO - I did it again. This is an e-book. Well - that's easy enough to return. No worries - there are two more audiobooks on my shelf, so it's not like I have nothing to read.

I finished a book called "Home Front" by Kristin Hannah ...

I'm listening to an audiobook at the moment called Finding Chika by Mitch Albom. It's a short one, so I hope to finish it today. It's about a Haitian child who was brought to the US because of a serious brain tumor. She does die - I'm not looking forward to that part of the book. The audiobook is way more interesting and fun than the actual hard copy of the book. The author reads the book, and there are audio clips of Chika and Mitch throughout the book. It's fun to actually hear some of ...

How do you handle a task that you dread doing? You procrastinate, you learn about it, you procrastinate, you talk to friends about it, you procrastinate, and then finally months later, you attempt the task. You hate it. The next time that task comes around, you still procrastinate, but you're not so leery. You may still need to get the instructions out. But here's the good news - there will come a day when you don't think twice about that task.

My task, believe it or not, was binding a quilt. Now I've bound a lot of ...

Wow -- I'm shocked at how much I can get done when I'm at a retreat. I'm focused and there are ZERO distractions. I'm thinking this is going to be the new norm at my house. Have everything super prepped and then isolate yourself with no distractions. It's great!!!

Just so that no one thinks I've snuck off into the dark and am at the retreat house, I'm NOT. I should be there - I want to be there, but I can't. We have a Messenger group chat going so we can always chat ...

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 ...

I was off to my dressmaking class last night. Making samples was on the agenda. I wasn't sure what kind of samples, but I took fabric and tools. I decided to use the sewing machines at the college as I was too lazy to take my own machine. I have to do some shopping - I need to have my fabric for next week and it has to be washed or dry cleaned or whatever treatment is necessary. I've got homework!

Hmm - that might have been a mistake to not take my sewing machine, but it all worked out ...

Oh -- I see there are some great comments in the last couple of days. I'm a wee bit strapped for time this morning so I'll address them tomorrow.

This silly walking business has greatly cut into my time. But once I'm caught up (I'm less than 10 miles behind - I think I made up four miles this week), things will be better. Over 23,000 steps yesterday. Also, I had a lot of private classes this week - everyone wanting to get themselves organized at the beginning of the year.

I won't go into the detail ...

OK -- I'll try not to go on and on about my virtual challenge, but I'm loving it. DH thinks I'm obsessing because I talk about it every day. And some people that I talk to think that the four of us are in a race against each other. NO - we're only in a race against ourselves. I have another challenge where I'm walking across Canada. Each day my FitBit transfers the miles that I've walked to the map. Since M lives in Vancouver and that's where I am right now (having started in ...