The princess and the pea

I was at a meeting yesterday afternoon which comprised a total of 7 adults. The meeting lasted about one hour and then we all sat down to dinner. We must have been together for about 3 - 4 hours. I just realized this morning that in all that time, I never once saw a cell phone or an iPad or any sort of electronic device. How did that happen? We actually chatted with each other. We entertained each other with our stories and memories.

It was refreshing. Now how do we get that to happen more often? I'm not sure how many hours one spends in front of a screen these days, but I recently read that the average Canadian watches OVER FOUR HOURS of TV a day. That totally shocks me. Because they probably spend time in front of their computer/tablet/smart device as well. I can't imagine spending four minutes in front of the TV on any given day. I do spend a couple of hours each day in front of the computer - partly to write the blog and partly for e-mail (which I'm really bad at) and partly for research and partly for work.

It's up to each of us to figure out how to spend our time. I just don't wish to watch TV and haven't for a long, long time.

Anyway - it's time to show you those two things I've been promising. The first is where to store the quilts. There are so many and they are stacked in piles on the floor upstairs and hanging haphazardly over the railing. Well, I got my act together the other day and started to lay them out on the spare bed.

A lot of quilts that I make are the same size (more or less) and they fit nicely on the top of the queen mattress.

This one was in a magazine

Made while on vacation in PEI

Designed and made while at Northcott

Designed and made for a magazine

Just a wee sampling of the quilts that are now on the bed. Let's just say that if any of them had wrinkles in them from folding, I think that will be nicely pressed out in a day or so. And the sheets beneath all the quilts? Nicely pressed flat as a pancake I would expect!

There must be about 30 quilts on the bed right now and that did make a wee dent, but only a wee dent in what is still hanging around. When I have an extra minute or two, I keep adding more to the pile. I'm trying to put the quilts there that I don't use. At some point, I need to try and sell some of them. Yes - I could give them away, but that seems like a lot of giving for all the work that got put into them. Anyway - that's where some of the quilts will be stored. Should anyone come to stay over? Well, that will take a Herculean effort to get those quilts off the bed!

The second thing I promised was the samples from the dressmaking class.

I got a point or two knocked off this sample because the topstitching lines are wavy. Yes - they are! I hate this kind of zipper. But I got a suggestion on how to make it better and that's all that counts. Getting better.

Wavy lines on the topstitching

And on my second zipper sample, I lost a half a point for not starting the stitching right at the seamline. It's hard to tell in this photo. But that's OK. They don't need to be perfect - not for the samples and it's a learning experience. I'm here to learn.

Stitching doesn't start right at the seamline

I think if you click on the photos to make them larger, you can see that the stitching doesn't start quite where it's supposed to start.

So you're all going to be very proud of me. I did it!!! I went through that box from the office. I spend at least one hour going through it and dealing with stuff.

I started out by emptying all the stuff from the box onto the kitchen table.

Stuff to sort through

 I emptied the recycling bin and brought a garbage can to sit right beside me.

Recycling bin and garbage bin

OH - here's a stack of books that I had purchased at the used book store in November. They were still in a plastic bag. They are now on the bookshelf. I'm so far behind in reading the books on my shelf. I MUST STOP getting books from the library. Matter of fact when I went to put these books on the shelf, I picked up a book on the shelf and noticed that it was a title that I had on hold. I canceled the hold. DUH - my left hand has no clue what the right hand is doing.

Books that went on the bookshelf

Here's a sampling of what I found. The old dentist that I haven't visited in YEARS still sends a silly birthday card. You would think that they would STOP sending to their archived patients. What a waste of money that is. No wonder his bills were high. That got tossed by the way.

Birthday card

I found a LOT of literature that had been picked up at various quilt shows. QuiltCon from two years ago, stuff that I had picked up from designers at Quilt Market and other quilt stuff. Here's the thing - if I want any of that information, it's available online. So a good part of that went in the recycling. Actually, I think all this kind of stuff went into the recycling.

When you think of the cost of designing these materials, having them shipped to quilt shows and then the majority of it will get tossed? Isn't there a better way? Like each designer/company has a QR code that you could scan at the show that once you're back home, you can look at their information online? It just seems such a waste and I'm one person out of thousands that attends these shows.

The literature on quilt stuff went in the recycling

DH had gone to some conference and of course, he brings home stuff and leaves it for me to deal with. Why is that? Anyway, it was totally useless for me. But notice the tag line - "Empowering women to control their world".  Guess what the swag was (that black thing)? It was a mirror. Somehow I find that offensive that empowered women would need a mirror. Do empowered men need a mirror?? 

Swag from a conference - also gone

Actually, that makes me think of the new Taylor Swift song - "The Man". For some reason, I watched the video the other day. It's actually very well done. 

I found this bag. Now I wouldn't walk around with a bag from a competitor on my shoulder, but I really liked the saying on the bag. I should cut that out and make something with it. That went in the pile to go downstairs.

A tote bag

Oh boy - this is why one cannot just throw all that stuff in the garbage. I found MONEY. Matter of fact, I found quite a bit of money which surprised me a wee bit. I knew there were some 20's in the pile but I found much more than a twenty here and there. OK -- so I'm not responsible with money.

Found money

This sort of sums up the piles at the end of the session. The top left pile contains two books that went downstairs. The stack to the right of that did go in the recycling. Haven't dealt with the box which is filled with small items. The pile in the left middle is the stuff that I'd like to keep or need to go through one more time. To the right of that is a bit of reading material some of which is already dealt with and in the recycling. The two piles at the bottom are things that I should deal with RIGHT NOW. OH -- I did find the other notification about getting my new health card!! I couldn't find a specific date on it, but the version of the form was dated 2012!!!!!

The aftermath

A few things went in the donation box. A little bit went in the garbage, but the recycling bin was chock a block full.

The recycling bin is filled

And there's a LOT more to go in that recycling bin. That amount that I dealt with was just about perfect. It took over an hour, but it wasn't overwhelming and the more that I put in the recycling, the easier it'll get. I was so excited that I took that box and refilled it with more crap from the office. No dent has been made and I suspect, it's going to take MANY boxes before we actually see any dents in the office space. I did NOT find the mouse that I was looking for (a computer mouse that is).

I really should be starting with the desk area so that I would have some decent space to work in. I might just take a break from sewing and do that today instead of working on the box. That would be awesome. I like to pile stuff rather than file stuff and there are piles on this desk that are obscene.

Well, I was on such a roll that I decided to head upstairs and see what I could get done in Studio U. There were a few things that needed to be moved downstairs. I was almost at the stairs with stuff in my hand when a spool of ribbon fell. Yep - it rolled completely empty!! I had a great chuckle over that.

A runway spool of ribbon

It doesn't take much to amuse me these days!!!

OK -- so we had the darn time change last night. I had forgotten all about it and would probably still be in the dark (so to speak) except that when I came downstairs, I noticed the clock on the stove was "wrong". The girls are still in the old-time zone and won't they be in for a surprise in a few minutes when we go outside for a walk in the dark. I try to ignore the time change and keep on a regular routine. Who cares if it's dark outside. It'll be light soon.

 And thanks to you all for listening to me moan and groan about cleaning up the office. Could this be the start of something great? I don't know - I would hope so, but I won't hold my breath! Of course, if I knew I was going to find money every day, well - I might be more motivated!!!

Have a super day!!!!!  (it's going to be warm here - get outside and get your exercise and your Vitamin D).

Ciao!!!!!