What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Goals are such a wonderful thing or not! I'm using BMI as a relative indicator, rather than fixating on my weight. Let's just say that I want to convert some fat to muscle or lose it altogether. While I can use my waistband as an indicator, I prefer to use BMI. I like goal-setting and numbers. 

The big reason for this is the creep! You know— you know your weight was X ten years ago, and now it's X PLUS. I don't like the plus, but I also know that I might gain as I get ...

Thanks for the wishes and the vote of confidence on my 2026 word - GOALS. Someone mentioned they had goals for 2025, and while they met some, they didn't hit the mark on all of them. And you know what they said? They FORGAVE themselves for not making the mark! That is a critical statement because if you set a goal and don't achieve it, and then you beat yourself up, what is the point of that? 

If you have to change a goal, there's likely a good reason. Was the goal too aggressive? Did family or health ...

I had a super productive day yesterday. I really wanted to start and finish one project that needed to be done. I almost completed it, but it's still likely to take another two hours. It involved some quilting, and at 7:30 pm, I was exhausted, so I went to read for a bit. I'll be able to finish this morning. 

As a result of going to bed so early, I was up VERY early and decided that while also doing some writing, I'd send out some emails. After I sent them, I forgot that people could ...

OH - I love the comments, and I need to ask a few more questions, so I'll be answering them this morning. I didn't get the reference to the matches in the bathroom? Am I missing something? 

I got an email in the afternoon about one of my posts that said to call them because I might be going down the wrong path. Yikes!!! It concerned the vinyl we cut for the Terrifying Tower, which we're going to machine embroider in a couple of weeks. 

Here is the picture and the wording that scared several of my savvy ...

Tick tock -- the end of the year is creeping closer and closer. Am I ready? Yep - pretty much. I have my schedule more or less organized for the first 6 months. WAIT --- that's at least as far as the things that I can control go. I have a couple of lectures to add and am just waiting on a response from someone before I schedule them. That's the sessions on scrap quilts. There will be one in February and one in March, so that's not an overly onerous addition to the schedule, and the prep time should ...

OH MY --- I'm at a loss on where to begin this morning! So much to say - let's just grab a picture and start! 

I called my parents and, while chatting with them, decided to tackle the next jigsaw puzzle. I know— but it was a mindless task, as all I accomplished was laying out the pieces. These pieces seem BIGGER than those in the previous puzzle, and while the shapes are NOT identical, they are much more regular than in the last puzzle. 

The pieces are laid out for the next puzzle

OK -- I did a bit more ...

Like all the quilters out there, MOST of us struggle with focus. We spot a new class, a new pattern, some shiny new gadget, and we are off in another direction before we even know what happened. After many years of following my eyes and ignoring the ever-growing mound of UFOs, a few UFOs are hanging around. 

I also had no issues buying fabric, like it was candy! It was because of that mound of fabric that several years ago (around 10, I believe), I stopped randomly buying fabric just because I liked it. I still buy fabric, but only ...

 Ha ha, love the word 'delulu' which was added to one of the dictionaries this year.

 Spring has arrived and it was time to change the small wall hanging just inside  the front door.  Down came Welcome to Winter and up went Hello Spring.  I hand stitched the pretty floral design and finished it up with machine quilting in 2022.

Spring has arrived

Our Spring weather is often temperamental and we have had heavy wind and rain.  The wind blew, blew, blew, creating  a carpet of yellow kowhai blossoms scattered across the lawn in the back yard.  Our native tuis love the kowhai nectar and have been feeding off the tree, in between busily chasing any ...

Our weather has turned wintry again, with snow on the ranges.  That didn't last long, when the rain arrived, and some wind.  It is still winter after all, it's just that we have been spoiled with calm, mild, sunny days for ages. Luckily, there is a heat pump installed, so there is clean, efficient heating here in my little home.  And it has been perfect soup making weather too.  My latest batch was pumpkin and kumara, so nice and tasty, with added pieces of fried onion and bacon, after it was whizzed smooth.  This was made in the ...

I'm pleased I have a sock finish, this pair seems to have taken ages.  But only because I don't work on them all the time, I tend to flick from one project to another.   These are for my daughter, I asked if she would like another pair for Christmas.  "Yes please" she said, "I'd like pale blue this time".  So they are done well ahead of time, which is good.

I'm home! The girls are happy! Everybody is happy! 

There's a new dog in town! This is Crosby - a puppy just adopted by our neighbors! I haven't had a chance to meet him yet, but I can't wait! I sure hope we get to babysit from time to time! He looks so soft and cuddly! 

Meet Crosby

An update on the Machine Embroidery Retreat: We had so much fun! The two days were long, and I was exhausted. I slept like a log last night. But everyone learned something about their machines and went home much ...

 Oh --- another bonus about the TruEarth laundry strips—they are Canadian (Port Moody, BC). I remember seeing that on a website, but I forgot. Thanks for the reminder! I'm excited to give them a try!

I'm almost embarrassed to show you what I did for my 60-minute-or-less challenge, but as I said, it doesn't matter what you do, and if it takes only 60 seconds but gets done, that's perfectly OK. This item had been sitting near my computer in Studio B for months—probably close to a year. I finally tackled it yesterday. 

I have ...

If this week is indicative of the pace of retirement, I say bring it on! Having only two classes this coming weekend is the only urgent thing I'm dealing with. That's not true since I'm also writing, but the pace is manageable, and I have time to goof off if I want. I can deal with that. 

Well, this weather is helping, as I have no desire to stay outside and lounge in the gazebo. I could freeze to death if I did that! And it's not really going to warm up for weeks. That's ...

Friday morning the mountain was white and on Saturday morning the snow had moved down to usI love the snow, but then again, I don't live where it hangs around for 4 or 5 months.We've always had to get out in it because you can't manage a ranch from inside. There was always ice to break (this was 2015 - on DH's birthday)And livestock to feedRanching in the desert, you're always thankful for any

Thanks to everyone, I have half of the books on my list. Well, I found 11 of 23 books at two used bookstores. The best part is that the two stores recommended had fantastic service. Allison the Bookman in North Bay, received my order, gave me a price, and I paid via transfer. The books are being picked up later today. Fast service. 

I had the same speedy service at Bearly Used Book Store in Parry Sound, and three more books were checked off my list. They got picked up yesterday. All of them will be on The Pony Express ...

 I found EIGHT books at the used bookstore in North Bay. And I love that ALL their titles are searchable online. Even better, you can search by author, and whatever they have from that author comes up! It's called Allison the Bookman, and I LOVE the site. I will call today and pay for the books, then they will go on the Pony Express. Yes - Our Pony Express reaches faraway places! Now, I need to update my list, and I have a couple of other bookstores to check out. Oh my -- this is super exciting! 

Oh, I should mention ...

Here's an interesting observation. I had a busy week last week, as have been the last several weeks. It's not so much about being super busy - two 2-hour presentations per day don't fill the day, but there's prep work for each and other bits of life. Usually, one of the two events would be held in the evening. 

While I had three shorter Zooms yesterday, they were more "casual" than during the week, and after 2 PM, the rest of the day was mine. What a huge difference that made in my day! I could actually ...

 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 ...