A glimmer of hope

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 enough interest to keep me glued to the darn thing. I'm definitely breaking out of my shell by reading different genres of books.

I was able to renew one of the four audiobooks that are currently on my shelf and at this rate, I should be able to clear up all the books before the due date. I still have two weeks before this book is due. I have three more on hold so as long as they don't come in before the expected date I'm OK. I know I can suspend the holds and manage them, but it's really only when someone returns the book early that messes things up!

DH was researching headphones (sure - after I buy mine) and apparently there's a headphone with 11 levels of noise canceling. Wow - I don't think I want them to be totally noise canceling as I'm already in my own little world, yet I can still hear things. And this pair he found (he's not buying any - just looking for something to do), has a sort of VR component built-in. Let's say you approached the Eiffel Tower (not sure the Eiffel Tower has this feature but I just picked something). So you approach the Eiffel Tower - the headphones pick up a signal and start to tell you facts about the Eiffel Tower. That's pretty amazing and scary at the same time. A self-guided tour of the world!!!

Anyway, I did get more work on my computer project done, but not quite as much as I would like, but then I spent a couple of hours on conference calls so I still got stuff done. But I'm close to being finished all the writing so that's good. I think I might take today off from that project. Tomorrow is our UFO meeting (a virtual meeting) and I need to get my homework done!

I'm averaging about 6 miles a day for walking. On days like yesterday, it was glorious to get outside. On days like today (almost 20 degrees colder), it's not going to be so nice. But that's what hats, mitts, and scarves are all about!

As we walked yesterday, a man passed us. He had been to the grocery store. He had a backpack on with a bag in one hand and guess what was he was holding in his other hand? A HUGE package of toilet paper. And it was about 2:30 in the afternoon!! There's a glimmer of hope that everyone will get their share of toilet paper! We still haven't bought any - we're still good for a couple of weeks, although I keep telling DH he should get some next time he goes shopping and he keeps forgetting!

A man with a big package of toilet paper

I was very excited that someone else was walking to the grocery store! I was told that perhaps I should pick the TP up on one of my walks. AH - with those two girls to handle and a big pack of TP? Not going to happen!!!

I managed to get some quilts bound. I'm trying to get all the Quilts of Valour organized so I can arrange for a drop-off sometime next week. I finished getting the binding on this quilt.

Binding on a Quilts of Valour quilt

And I got the binding on this quilt as well. Two down and three to go for this month. I'm throwing an extra one in the mix because I have enough batting bits to quilt one more quilt. I also managed to trim the one that doesn't need the binding put on. Three down and two to go. One has to be quilted and one needs to have the binding made before it goes on. Perhaps a job for later today.

Binding on a Quilts of Valour quilt. 

This is the quilt that I quilted yesterday. It was a small one so it didn't take much time. It's now trimmed and ready for the binding (which isn't made) to be attached. This was one of the quilts from way back when that I made and it's been sitting for a long time waiting to be quilted. It'll be donated to the Linus Project.

Community projects quilt - DONE

I remembered to take some pictures for you this morning. Here's my stack of quilts to quilt. The quilts on top are those quilts that are slated to be quilted this month or that belong to customers - some of which are slated to be quilted next month. A couple of the quilts on top belong to me. I've got a list.

The quilts below are community projects quilts that are waiting to be quilted. Yikes - that's a huge pile and there will be more coming once we get back to our sew days. BUT - do you notice how neat and organized that all is? Oh yes - it's super organized. There are seven quilts on the top with more that will be added once I get prepped for next month and a few customer quilts that will get dropped on the front step over the next while.

Quilts waiting to be quilted

How many are in the tubs at the bottom? I've no idea. Some of them have fleece for the backing so that takes a lot of space, but that entire space is crammed with quilts. Some are big, some are small. It doesn't matter how many. What matters is that the number is dwindling for the moment. I might even get one or two more small ones done this month, since I'm almost done my quota for this month and there's still time. I'm not sure yet how I'll proceed. I may want to focus on clearing those worktables. NO - I should be focusing on those worktables. I think that will be my priority after I clear my quilting list for this month.

And then we have this. These tubs are filled with MY quilt tops (with binding and backing) that need to be quilted. Yes - it's totally obscene. I'm trying to get a few done every month for myself so that as I finish quilts, that I'm not making the pile even larger. I do NOT want to add any more tubs or bags to the piles. So that means that I have to get some quilted to create some space before anything else gets added. You see the problem with that!! But huge leaps and bounds have been made that I really feel I'm on top of the game.

My quilts to be quilted

Here's the thing - it used to be a total disaster and I had NO idea what was there. Now that I have it all organized, it makes me feel better that I can find anything pretty much in a few minutes. It's all sorted  - the contents of the tubs are sorted and listed in a book. Except for the last couple of tubs that got added. I really should finish that exercise so that it's totally up to date. Perhaps a project for later today. I feel like I should do the same with the community project quilts, but there's really no need to locate any specific top. I just go by size - big ones for Quilts of Valour and small ones for Project Linus.

Oh - I found the quilt that I was going to show you when the toilet paper crisis was in full force. This is a quilt that I made years ago. As you can see - it's an outhouse. It's a collage piece, but the "fabric" is actually from magazines. At that time, I couldn't find any newsprint fabric so I photocopied newspaper onto fabric to get the border. I'm very careful with this piece as I don't want it to get bent so the paper gets a crease in it.

The outhouse quilt

So why couldn't I find the quilt? because it was hanging up in Studio B. I try to keep it hung up and had forgotten that it was there. It was only when I was sitting at the sewing machine and glanced up that I saw it hanging there.

Oh silly me!!!!  I've got to start trusting myself a bit more.

The Outhouse quilt - exactly where it's supposed to be!

After I trimmed that small quilt, I added it to the pile of quilts and quilt tops to be dealt with for the next community projects day. Oh boy - I see a lot of binding in our future. Some of the bindings are made and some are not. But there's no rush for any of that. It's safely and neatly stowed away in the storage room. I'm good with that.

Work for the next community projects day

Nothing got done in the office yesterday. I'm OK with that. I do have my plan and even if I only get the computer desk completely organized, that would be huge. Like I said, I might take the day off from my computer project and do something else. I'll see how I feel, however, I would like to get this deadline off my plate. I have e-mails to respond to and I'm not touching them at this moment.

How is everyone coping? As I mentioned yesterday, nothing has really changed at my house. It's business as usual since we both work from home already. I suspect that more people will elect to work at home after all this is cleared up. Or they might work more often at home. It takes some discipline for sure, but I love it!

All the quilters have so much to do that we could work at home for years and not have to go out. And if you're into reading - well, there's so much to read. I think DH mentioned that since the beginning of 2020, 200,000 books have been published. I think that was the number he said. Anyway - that's totally crazy!!! We'll never run out of things to read and most of us have piles of books and magazines to read. Get busy and get reading!!!

Now it's time to get myself organized for the day. Loads to do and well - I'm trying to be as productive as I can.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!