Technical issues

Yep - things were going along very smoothly in the technology department. Then yesterday morning when I turned on the PC (OK - so I woke it up - I never seem to turn it off), I got this error message.

Error message

OK -- so I've been reminded for the last couple of days that I need to restart the PC for updates. But seriously? You can't tell me that a critical error could occur because I didn't do that. Lesson learned  -try to shut the computer down each night. I know that isn't going to happen so I should say instead that when I'm asked to restart for an update - DO IT!!!  I got the error three times since yesterday so it needs to go for service.

Thank god for laptops and external hard drives and the internet. One isn't nearly so inconvenienced as we used to be. However, I will take the computer to the shop today. I do like that big screen.

I hope you got out and walked yesterday. It was so beautiful  - how could you stay in the house? I almost got out a chair to sit in the backyard but went for a walk instead. Matter of fact, I walked a lot yesterday.

I had to get regular maintenance service on my car. I also needed to get to Fabricland to buy that pink thread. So I dropped off the car and with my trusty small orange backpack, I headed off to Fabricland which was a 15-minute walk away. I met up with Ronda (thank god for cell phones) and got some fabric from her that needs to be quilted for her backpack. I got my thread, had a peek around and picked up some things for my project classes next week and then I walked back to the car dealer.

I wasn't expecting the car to be done, but it was. Mario (my service guy) and I were chatting about changes. They had ripped the showroom down last year and the new one is now open. Holy - it's huge and looks amazing. And the lounge area  - well I felt like I was at the Maple Leaf Lounge at the airport. And the washrooms? Very fancy. I guess there's a lot of money in selling cars. The service bay area is next on the upgrade list.

And yes - they know about my issue with the length of the service call for the tires which will be next month. That's a good thing - now let's see if they can come through. However, I've been having a lot of trouble using the navigation system in the car. So I asked if someone could show me once and for all how the darn thing works.

It turns out that if I want to use the navigation system, I have to turn on the Toyota app on my phone when I get in the car. Even though the car and phone pair up automatically when I turn on the car so the Bluetooth will work, this app has to be manually turned on for the navigation system to work. That seems very backward to me, but I'm going to experiment now that I know.

I also asked about the hitch and Toyota doesn't have a hitch for this car as it's small. I could go aftermarket for close to $600. But one of the service guys suggested I get the kind of rack that straps to the back of the car. HEY - I have one of those. So I saved myself $600 yesterday and figured out how to get my bike to the retreats in the summer.

I wasn't done walking. In the afternoon, it was time for the walk with the girls. We HAD to walk to the mall (Erin Mills Town Center). I had driven past in the morning and I was shocked so we went back for pictures.

This is what it looked like on Sunday. They had ripped the roof off the center section and it looks like they kept the center posts????

The roof is gone off the center section

This is the view to the left of the photo above.

The corner of the old Sears store

 And this is the side. Remember how they can carefully pulled off the wall and emptied the crap that was on the inside.

The side of the old Sears store

 We even had a discussion about the mall on Monday and Tish thought they were going to rip it down completely and I said: "oh no, they are carefully dismantling the walls."

Well, it turns out she might be right and I'm totally wrong - look at it now! The roof and support beams on the side are totally gone!!!! Holy!!!!

The roof is gone on most of the building

I did have a chuckle when I saw this as it reminded me of a story that my Dad told me years ago. He knew a guy (my Dad knew a lot of guys). He had a shop (all the guys my Dad knows have a shop). Anyway, there was a stack of windows leaning up against one of the walls. The guy was zipping around in the shop with a forklift and accidentally broke a window. He got mad and smashed them all!

That's what this makes me think of. They were so careful removing the wall and the debris inside and then accidentally hit the roof and BAM - the whole roof goes! I'm sure that's not the case, but it brought a neat memory.

Anyway, I stood watching for a long time with the girls patiently waiting. It's not just myself that is stopping to watch. Lots of people are driving up and watching from their cars or standing by the fence like me. I talked at great length with some guy who was walking by. He thinks the whole thing is coming down. But he thought they were going to put a parking garage there. He's obviously NOT in the know.

OK - that's enough about the mall! Sorry - but this stuff is totally fascinating to me. And M likes to see the changes.

I did get some work done - never as much as I would like, but work got done. That's all that counts.
So the binding is on this quilt! Yeah!!!!  I haven't put a label on yet - I'll wait until I get the information from my Mom next week.

The Dresden Plate quilt is done

The binding is made from the same fabric as the backing.

The binding on the Dresden Plate is the same as the backing

And I still had a piece this big from the backing once the binding was made. Oh yes - there should be loads to finish that other quilt. That was a lucky find in the backing stash for sure. Especially since it was NOT in the backing stash but rather sitting in a plastic container on one of the tables.

Leftover from the backing fabric

Then it was back to the long arm. I got this quilt done the other day and it needs to be trimmed before it can be picked up.

Customer quilt - DONE

Then it was time to quilt something for me. I want to make another backpack, but a slightly larger one so I can carry my computer in it. By the way, the little orange one was good for a trip to Fabricland where I bought only a few supplies. It was NOT good for a trip to the library where I picked up FIVE books. I know - it's free to use the library and I couldn't help myself.

Speaking of the library, I opened up Goodreads to find that it knew which book I was listening to on my audiobook. Now that is very freaky!!! Everything is connected. You don't even know it's connected, but it's connected and everyone knows everything about you!!!  The funny thing is that the premise of that book is exactly that. A story about silicon valley and the lurking dangers of it. It's actually quite funny - it's a novel. And so far a decent read. It's called Uncanny Valley by Anne Weiner. 

Goodreads is listening

So quilting the fabric for the backpack was a wee bit challenging only because I had to use two pieces of foam (I didn't have any of the wide stuff). And I had to use three pieces of fabric for the front. I hope it all works out when I go to cut it as I'll have to work around the joins. 

Here I'm just finishing the first piece of fabric and then I added the next piece so I could quilt the next row.

The second piece of foam is loaded

Here's the final piece. I made a quilt out of that fabric which will appear in a magazine at some point. This is the leftovers and I wanted to use them for the backpack.

The backpack fabric is quilted

I had to babysit this pretty much the entire time. Partially because of the three pieces of fabric and two pieces of foam and there was NO room at the sides of each row. I quilted right to the edges.
This is OK for this type of thing as I won't be using the edges of the quilted fabric. I'll be cutting pieces out of this for the backpack. I used a tight honeycomb pattern with a green thread. I'm very happy with the results and now I need to get the pieces cut. This is going in the retreat box as well, but some prep is required.

The honeycomb pattern 

You can see that there are two pieces of foam. Since it's so "sticky", it didn't shift at all. I was quite impressed with that. And I do like the way it quilts. The yoga bag that I'm also prepping for the retreat was quilted with batting and it's limp compared to the foam. OK - so I'm sold on the foam for bags - UNLESS the bag uses decor-bond.

TWo pieces of foam were "joined"

Actually, I want to make a tote bag before I head out west. I might just use foam in it!!!  I've got a few pieces that should be a perfect size.

OH -- so much to do and so little time!!!!

On that note, I'd better get the day started as I have to make a trip to the computer store. Hopefully, it's just a quick fix.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!