Shamefaced

I"m having a first world problem this morning. My mouse is not cooperating as well as I would like! Thankfully I have a touch screen on the computer so that makes life a little bit easier. I've tested the battery and it seems to be fine. It's just not happy - works sometimes and then it doesn't. Oh well......

Wasn't that a fabulous show and tell from our Virtual UFO meeting? Seriously - if you have a group that meets regularly - consider setting up a Whatsapp group. It's a free app for your smartphone. A very easy way to stay in touch with your group members.

I set up another group last night. You see - we were supposed to be going to our quilting retreat next weekend. I was hopeful that things might change and all of us have been socially responsible. Alas, that is not going to happen. We're all bummed out. However, we are now connected via Whatsapp and we can simulate our retreat on the app. I told everyone to continue to pack as if they were going. Then we're going to sew on those days as if we were at the retreat. That's going to be hard to stay focused. But I think it's going to be fun. And that's better than just letting the event slide by.

Here's a couple of other tips that I think we should be doing while we're all in isolation or social distancing or whatever. We might as well be isolated since we can't go anywhere.

1. Get dressed every day as you normally would. Don't wear your PJs every day. 
2. If you are bored find something else to do than have a snack! Do not snack more than you normally would. You'll regret it when you try to put those jeans back on. 
3. Call a friend. Think about your friends who live alone. I'm sure some of them would appreciate a call.
4. Don't go crazy ordering stuff online - you will eventually get a bill. 
5. Try to learn something new every day. Be that on the internet or from one of your quilting books, practice your free motion quilting. 
6. Organize something that you have wanted to do for a while. 
7. Read a new genre of book - loads of books are available electronically. Learn how to listen to audiobooks if you've never done that. Or try an e-book if you've never read one. Magazines are also available online - not all, but some. 
8. Exercise! Go for a walk, create weights from cans of veggies or whatever you have in the house, do leg lifts, whatever you do - keep active - it's important for your health. 
9. Drink lots of water. Just do it - it's good for your health!!
10. Don't panic! It's darn scary for everyone but we are in one of the best countries in the world (For those of you in Canada) and we are all in the same boat (all over the world). 

DH thinks I'm Mary Poppins - way too cheery and optimistic. But hey - if you're not - what's going to happen?? I can't stand doom and gloom. There's always a silver lining in everything. 

Speaking of which, I finished The Goldfinch yesterday. HOLY - it was a very strange book. I'm so thankful that I have a positive outlook on life and that I was dealt a good hand when I was born. I won't say more than that in case anyone wants to slog through the book. I don't think I could have read the book, but it was OK to listen to THIRTY-TWO hours!! It was long. Thankfully the next book I'm reading is only 13 hours and totally different. It's called After the Flood and most of the earth is underwater. I"m not sure what enticed me to select that book. I NEED a good mystery. 

So why am I shamefaced? As I was standing at the long arm yesterday, I thought I might have a peek in one of the bags of community projects quilts that are waiting to be quilted. NOOOOOOOOOOO.  The bag was filled with MY quilts. I think there were four quilts in the bag. Well - at least I found two quilts that I had been searching for. 

Hmmm - we need an intervention here! So this morning, I thought instead of doing any work that I should start to go through the tubs. Remember, I had started a while back. I have a master list and I'm verifying that each tub has the right quilts in it. It makes it easy for me to find a particular quilt if I need to. The task was started but not completed. 

The tubs are also sorted by categories. I know - how sad is that that my "to be quilted" quilts can fit into categories. I even found one for Striped quilts. I have enough striped quilts to make a category?? Yep!!!!

Category of striped quilts

This is the bag that I found among the community project quilts that belong to me!!

A lost bag of quilt tops 

OH -- I'm just realizing that one tub didn't get in the picture but it's in the tally. 

The "to be quilted" pile

So - in these fifteen tubs, I found - can you guess how many quilts I found to be quilted? I'm so ashamed to say how many there are. Each quilt has a backing and except for one or perhaps two, all the bindings are made as well. So that's a positive thing. 

Are you sitting down?? OK - I'm hanging my head as I write this number. I'll whisper it so it doesn't seem so bad. One hundred and seventy-six. Yes - one hundred and seventy-six. And there are four quilts on the table waiting to be quilted before the end of the month. Oh my. They range from table runners to kind-sized quilts. 

But WAIT - that is not the final count as these tubs haven't been accounted for. Yes - there are four more tubs and three bags. I'm guessing that there are an additional seventy-five quilts in this pile. OK - maybe fifty. 

Quilts to be cataloged

ACK!!!!  Even if I were to quilt one a day - that's a lot of quilting!!  Thankfully, I just bought two rolls of batting! But the good news in all this is that I'm starting to quilt my own quilts. Before, I'd make them and leave them. At least, I'm working on them - slowly, but making a teeny tiny dent. I'm sure that some of those quilt tops will end up being donated. But my priority is to get the ones in the community project pile quilted first!

As I checked through some of the quilts this morning, I found a bag of embroidery thread. I was probably going to quilt this quilt with that thread. No - not doing that now. It's going into the embroidery thread box. 

Embroidery thread found with a  quilt

I dare not even guess how many UFO's still need to be added to that pile. So if anyone suggests starting a new project? Or buying more fabric?  HA HA HA HA HA. 

Let's just say that if we stay in self-isolation for a while, I won't run out of things to do!!! I will get bored so it's important to do different things every day. I even thought of doing a jigsaw puzzle yesterday, but sadly the worktables are still piled with stuff. I hope that today I can focus a bit and I'm trying to find the missing binding for one of the quilts that need the binding attached. I know it's made - just where is it???

And even though I'm busy all day, I don't seem to have a lot to show for it. In the last couple of days, I got two small quilts quilted. Wait until Friday and you'll see what I've been working on.

Customer quilt - DONE

Customer quilt - DONE

I'll get those trimmed later today and then they can be porch delivered to the customer later this week.

And I got the binding on this last Quilts of Valour quilt.

The binding is on the last Quilts of Valour quilt

So that concludes my commitments to customers and my community projects quilts for the month. I have an entire week to do my stuff! Yeah!!!  I did pull a couple of my quilts to quilt until it's time to start the process all over again next month.

When I was in Saskatoon, I found the Secura thread that I had been looking for here!! This is a HEAT-ACTIVATED Button thread. Doesn't that sound like the best thing??? I can't wait to give it a try. I've got to find a button to sew on!

Secura - heat-activated button thread

I had another wake-up moment yesterday. So I'm averaging 6 miles a day in walking outside with the girls and the bit of walking that I do around the house. However, I realized last night that I need to be walking 7 miles a day to keep up my pace with my Virtual Challenges. DUH!!! Why did I forget that? So I have to add one more mile a day to my routine!! The girls are going to be thrilled, however, I might take a walk by myself without them. It's a challenge to walk both of them and they aren't getting better. Well - slightly. It would be nice to have a nice quiet and peaceful walk by myself.

Here's the price of gas yesterday afternoon. We haven't seen that price in ages. Yikes! I know it was going to drop even further last night. 

Gas price yesterday afternoon

It's so quiet outside. No one is outside although I did see a guy on his bike yesterday. Keeping my distance, I asked if he was enjoying riding without any traffic. Glorious! he said!! I should get out, but it's still a bit chilly for me.

Check out QUILTsocial today.  It's all about using the decorative stitches on your sewing machine in EMBROIDERY MODE. I know - did you know you could do that??? 

Well - that's a wrap for today. Please be smart! The more people don't listen to the requests being put on us, the longer that this shut down is going to happen. I've seen some stupid things posted online and all I can say is - let them get sick!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!