What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

OH shoot -- I goofed on the one-sided paper acronym. It's GOOSe, which stands for "good on one side, EH!" Anyway, I found a lot more GOOSe yesterday, and it's been added to the pile for printing.  

I finally got through that pile of receipts, and I did keep a few that I'll sort through later. But the majority of it is gone. More on that in a minute. DH had the gall to ask why I didn't just dump it without sorting. He hasn't learned that I have to do things MY way or it ...

Happy Canada Day!!

It already looks dull and dark outside, and it's only July 1, a mere 10 days after the Summer Solstice. But it's overcast and no sun! I hope everyone is enjoying the weather, as it's been glorious here the last couple of days. 

So I did something a bit different yesterday. I've been walking for all my errands within a couple of KM of the house. I had to pick up meds for the dogs, which is a bit too far for me to walk. I had two choices - I could get in ...

I have no idea why my e-mail sometimes doesn't want to sync, so it will download new e-mails containing the pictures for today's blog! Sigh................

Again -- thanks for the comments. Someone commented that extroverts are done with Zoom and want to be in person. Do not get me wrong -- I would die without personal contact with people; as a matter of fact, I was in an all-day class yesterday in an actual store! I learned a lot. I just don't want to do my weekly sewing in person. It's too much work and time and gas ...

 So -- it's exciting to be able to go somewhere, but I don't think I've ever gone somewhere and not been in a flap the day before. And I know people who travel every week -- well, they used to. I would have died long ago!

I had to make sure that all my travel docs were in order. And it seems you have to resubmit your vaccine papers for each trip. So far, there's no one beside me on the plane. Then I still have to change some previous arrangements - hotels, cars, etc. And seriously - trying to ...

 Just got a tip for moving rather than copying files. I'll check that out later today. It's super important to be MOVING files and NOT copying -- otherwise, you end up in a huge mess which is partially the problem I have with some of those photos. 

This is the status of my new hard drive. It's the D Drive in the photo, and it's almost 75% full - of PHOTOS. That's so silly, and I hope to make good headway in deleting want I don't want or need and then keep it neat and tidy ...

 If you were an early reader of my blog yesterday, you stumbled upon a MESS. When I left for the gym, I didn't realize that the completed file did NOT get uploaded. It was a rough draft full of spelling errors and terrible grammar. Sigh...   When I returned and realized what had happened, I had to edit it and finish writing it. Oh well --- I need to be more careful next time. 

Yep, even though I started the customer quilt earlier, it was almost bedtime by the time I finished it. I never even made it to the garden ...

OH, SHOOT -- it was only when I got home from the gym that I realized the blog post had saved a VERY ROUGH draft, not the final one, and I had to rewrite part of it. OOOPS. 

I seem to be getting my main work done starting at 4 PM, which is wild for someone who gets up early. Why is that? I started quilting the customer quilt at 4, and I tackled my box of crap after dinner, and I must change that because I fell into bed exhausted. 

However, I'm thrilled to report that things are looking ...

For once, that (title of the blog) does NOT refer to me and some crazy deadline. I'm so relaxed that - well, it's gazebo time!

Even in the heat, I was in the gazebo (with a sweatshirt on) and happy as a clam. It was glorious with the trees and the breeze until the sun came around the roofline and shone into the gazebo. 

I was supposed to be reading, but I had a nap instead. The scent of the lilacs and the tingle of the windchimes put me to sleep. 

Lilacs are in bloom

 Oh my --- what great fun we had at the virtual retreat! We had a great visit with Jenny from Australia, where it's winter! But not like our winter. And there was the usual gang of misfits! OK - maybe I was the only misfit? No, I don't think so. I love that we all get along and have some wonderful conversations, and we learn so much from each other. 

The conversations are entertaining, and you can just listen, especially when you have an ugly job to do. Before I went to retreat last week, I had an issue with ...

 I sewed for a good part of the day, but I was in slow motion mode, and that's OK. I managed to get all the homework done for the class last night and the two classes this morning. OK -- that's a lie. While I did get the homework done for last night and the presentation went together, I still need to make 7 more blocks for The Butterfly quilt. I was thinking I'm doing great - I've got everything cut. Then I realized that we needed to make EIGHT blocks, not four, so back to the cutting ...

What can I say besides the fact that we are so relaxed here that -- if we don't get any sewing done - who cares? We didn't spend quite so much time at the dinner table, but we had other things we needed to get done! 

We are all sleeping like babies here. Since some babies don't sleep well, is that a good expression to use? But it's so darn peaceful here; I could stay here forever. In my case, it's likely peaceful because Lexi and Murphy are not here! But then I miss their furry antics ...

It was another LONG exhausting day; however, I listened to another page-turner audiobook, and I didn't want to stop. But I was so tired that I was falling asleep, even listening to the thriller. I tried listening to the rest of it this morning as I was prepping my presentation for the classes, and I had to stop because it was distracting me. OH! What a great book -- another page-turner by Shari Lapena -- The End of Her. 

I may have to listen while walking the dogs this morning. Again -- secrets and families -- are NOT a good mix. So if ...

Never say never. You know what I mean. For years, I would zip from one project to another and often worked on several projects at a time. The studio was a mess, and so was my brain, apparently. Lately, I've been trying to focus on one thing at a time. OK -- that's not true because when I'm working in the studio, I often have one of the automated machines working simultaneously -- either the long arm or the embroidery machine. So that's not one project at a time. 

However, the workspace is much neater, and I'm ...

It was an exciting morning. I was prepping to leave the house to walk Murphy, and I saw the ominous-looking clouds and grabbed an umbrella. Then I checked the weather app, and it didn't look like we'd get rain for at least an hour. So I left the umbrella in the house, and we were off. 

BRRRR!!!!   It was a tad chilly outside. Can you tell me how we went from HOT to cool overnight? I had shorts on but wasn't going back to change. 

I stopped to take this picture of a beautiful tree in bloom ...

Have you ever had one of those nights when you are tired - but you just can't fall asleep? There were zero reasons for that to happen except to annoy me. I did not nap during the day, I didn't have any earth-shattering thing on my mind, all the work for the day got completed, and I just couldn't fall asleep. 

I did get up and go to spin class. Let's just say that it took me an extra 10 minutes to get my 30 KM. I think a nap this morning or this afternoon will be ...

 The pandemic and Zoom have really changed our lives! I taught an in-person class yesterday, which still took time to prep (collect all the stuff), then it took several hours of travel time, then to teach the course and drive back home. The day was gone! If the class had been on Zoom, it wouldn't have taken HALF of the time! Just something to think about as we go forward. And look at this. 

The gas price is almost $2.00 a liter

Yep -- we are on the verge of $2.00 per liter of regular gas. The gas ...

 And another crazy day is in the bag! Actually, it wasn't a crazy day at all. It was a glorious day - I worked at a leisurely rate, went for a long walk, sat in the gazebo, and generally went easy and well -- it was a glorious day!

The day started a bit weird. Lexi and I were out walking along a somewhat busy street. While she doesn't pull like Murphy does, she likes to stop and smell EVERYTHING. Tugging is required to get her back on track and keep her moving; otherwise, we would never make it back ...

It's a good thing I don't flap easily! I was all set up for my free-motion class in Studio B. I noticed an UNSTABLE INTERNET notice a couple of times, and I ignored it until someone said that I was hard to hear and so it was time to move. I had to disconnect everything and run upstairs to the kitchen table, which seemed to help. But now my other cameras were downstairs. 

Things were fine until DH came home and wanted to watch TV in the family room right beside the kitchen, so I trundled off to ...

Don't worry -- I'm not moving! The neighbor who just sold her house is a single person and lives in that big house all by herself. It was time for her to move, and she had talked about it for years. We are NOT moving! My girls love their backyard, we love the backyard, I love the location, and as Jannette mentioned, if you sell, where the heck will you buy? The prices are crazy everywhere!. 

I spoke to another neighbor who had been thinking of moving, but they've looked in smaller towns and decided to stay put ...

Sometimes it's great to run away! And that's essentially what I did yesterday. I was the guest speaker for the Goderich Quilter's Guild. I've been to Goderich before, and it's a quaint little town right on the shores of Lake Huron. I knew I had to visit the beach before I left. 

Before I show you the photos, I wanted to say how beautiful those small Ontario towns are. The houses are so far apart - that I could swing a golf club and not hit the house next to me. Of course, that is in ...