A good news kind of day

Yesterday was crazy! I sat at my computer for TWELVE hours of Schoolhouse presentations. OK -- that's not exactly true, I did get a LOT of stuff done. Wait for that. But in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, Schoolhouse is usually a one-day event that takes place at Quilt Market in the spring and in the fall. Quilt Market is a trade show for the quilt industry and not open to the public. They set up the virtual Schoolhouse on Zoom and over two days.

I think I much prefer this method to the in-person sessions. It's nowhere near as exhausting, we can see ALL the presentations, and there are still goodies to be had if you want. Sure, you don't get to touch and feel the samples, but in most cases, you don't get that anyway.

It was fun to see how everyone did their presentations. They were fifteen minutes long, so you can imagine how many I sat through. Almost ALL of the technology worked well. There were a few glitches, but overall, I think Day One was a success. You know what the best part of the day was? No one had to run back to their booth on the show floor to finish setting up!

Some presentations were more successful than others were. Some of them did some bad things - like not logging in to see themselves on a second computer. I learned that trick a long time ago; however, I did get a couple of additional ideas.

What did we learn? New books coming out, new patterns coming out, new mystery quilts, new fabrics. I think the best fabric presentation was by Lewis and Irene. Their collections were the ones I was most attracted to. I saw a great block of the month, but it requires a lot of rulers and templates, so I'm not sure about that. I need to check it out a wee bit more. I'm sure there's a way to get around the rulers and templates.

Anyway - lots of information to digest. A couple of companies gave stuff away. I had the e-mail sent before they finished their presentation!

Of course, the Fall Market (trade only) and The Fall Festival (open to the public) are in full planning mode, but I'm hearing rumblings that companies are pulling out, not feeling that an event as significant as that can be held safely! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I did NOT just sit in front of the computer. I don't see how someone can sit in front of the TV and do nothing. I would die. Oh no - I needed (wanted) to get my commitment for Quilts of Valour quilts (for May!) finished. I set up the laptop on the long and loaded the quilt.

The laptop sitting on the long arm

So it was easy to peek around the corner of the quilt to see the presentation. The hardest part was not being able to hear. That was also a quick fix with my Bluetooth earbuds. I didn't wear them all day, but just when I was doing the long arming, so I could run around the studio and get done what needed to be done. It worked like a charm.

Bluetooth earbuds

I also wore them on Monday when we had our sewing session. They have a microphone so I could hear what the group was saying, and I could participate in the conversation even though I wasn't sitting at the computer. I tell you - I like this virtual thing!!

On Monday, I got this quilt for Quilts of Valour quilted.

Quilts of Valour quilt - done!

Yesterday, I managed to get the last TWO quilts for the May commitment quilted. Also for Quilts of Valour.

Quilts of Valour quilt - DONE

Quilts of Valour quilt - DONE

All three of those quilts are trimmed; the bindings are made, so I hope to get them done today and work on a delivery/pick-up for Friday or Saturday. Then next week, it's time to get to work on customer quilts.

But that wasn't all I got done yesterday. As I said, there is NO WAY that I'm going to sit for 12 hours and watch presentations and get nothing else done. I had NOT made the flaps for the three tote bags made with the Crafty Bear fabric. Now the three flaps are cut and ready for the Velcro to be added when I can find the Velcro. I haven't had time to focus on searching for it, and my walks have been consumed with figuring something else out.

The bag flaps are prepped

Speaking of walking, I was chatting with my neighbor the other day. She isn't getting out for a walk - it's too BORING!!!! Can you believe that? I almost died. I did take a break last night and went for a walk. An hour walk and within "minutes," I was back in the house. I'm working on a presentation and couldn't get the flow right. Well, after the walk, I'm good. I bet I got a few strange looks as I walked along at a reasonably good clip muttering to myself. OK - I wasn't just muttering, I was presenting out loud! But I did stop when someone passed me!!!  Do you not think that we are losing the ability to see what's around us, we are losing the ability to just veg, or to solve problems and use our time wisely. It's shocking - at least to me.

Then I prepped the two zippered pouches that I'm going to sew with the Crafty Bear fabric. The fleece is fused on, the linings have been prepped. I'm good to go!!!!

Two zippered pouches ready to be sewn together

I trimmed the embroidery that I made last week for QUILTsocial. I found some fabric for the backing and binding. I just need to quilt it and finish it off.

Wallhanging ready to be quilted

And I trimmed the quilting sample using machine embroidery that I made last week. That just needs to have the binding prepped and sewn on.

A quilted sample with the binding to be prepped

I also did a lot of ripping. I do believe that I'm at the end of the ripping that needed to be done! Whatever will I do with my time???

Now I have a stack of small things that need to be finished. I might just make that the focus of the weekend and get those things done. If I don't, guess what happens? They'll still be hanging around in years to come, and it creates clutter. GET THEM DONE!!!!!

Project stack for the weekend

So I was telling you about the Humbug bags yesterday. Here's the pattern that I unearthed when I was searching for the Velcro.

The Humbug Bag pattern

Here's the thing. I found that pattern in a tub filled with partially completed zippered pouches and supplies to make a TON more bags. You know me - ONE is never enough. I have to make lots. I do need to go through that container and pick out the half-finished projects and finish them off. The rest of the supplies, including a TON of zippers, needs to be reshelved in the appropriate spot.

Supplies to make zippered pouches

I still have a "few" boxes and bags of stuff upstairs that needs to be dealt with. They got moved upstairs when I had to empty Studio B so the new floor could go in. I had looked through this laundry basket, and it seemed that I could quickly put things away or deal with them.

Laundry basket of stuff to go through

But look what I found right on the top? A bundle of Robin Pandolph fabrics. This was a donation, and it's supposed to be with the Community Projects stuff. That's where it's now sitting! There's enough FQs there to make two quilts.

Fabric bundle for community projects

If you were observant, you saw that the title of today's blog post is "a good news kind of day," yet nothing that I've talked about is really good news. It's all good stuff that happened, but where's the good news? While I was listening to the presentations, I swear that everyone called me, or they texted me (I had porch pick-ups and drop-offs yesterday), or they sent me e-mails. The bottom line, I got a call from my DENTIST!!! I was never so happy to hear from him. I have an appointment at noon on Thursday - tomorrow to get my crown fixed. I'm so happy. Lots of rules, but I don't care!!!

Then I got a call from the cleaning lady. She's coming next week. Well, I think I've died and gone to heaven!!!!  Oh - and I got some fabric ordered that has been on the back burner for several months. It finally all got figured out yesterday. I'm picking it up on Friday. Oh - happy day!!!!!

I managed just under 7 miles of walking yesterday, which is good considering that I sat in front of that darn computer for most of the day. The sessions are being taped, and we can watch what we missed in a week or so.

Here's my daily picture of the walk between North Battleford and Saskatoon. Don't worry - I'll be in Saskatoon soon.

Highway 16 nearing Borden, Saskatchewan

Here's the view of the map. I'm almost at the bridge to go over the river. Actually, it's quite fascinating as I never really understood how the river went at that point. Now I see very clearly how the river flows. I'm a wee bit behind schedule, but I'll make that up next week, no problem.

The map view

Hopefully, today will be a quieter day! I have only one small project scheduled to be quilted, and it's already loaded. That shouldn't take long to do at all. Then I can sit and sew. I've got homework that needs to be sent out Friday morning. I did a good part of the cutting this morning, and if I can get it sewn today, then I can write tomorrow and get it out first thing on Friday.

We had the most amazing light show in our neighborhood last night. The lightning was almost NON-STOP for quite a while. I fell asleep - totally exhausted! There was thunder, as well, and the rain was coming down in buckets. I see it's still raining this morning. Oh well - what to wear? As my rain jacket is hot.

OH  -- a note about the next Virtual Retreat. Our real sewing retreat, scheduled for next week, is now officially canceled. I've known for a while, but I'm in total denial that it wasn't going to happen. So I'm scheduling another Virtual Retreat. The dates are June 13 and 14. That's a Saturday and Sunday. Watch for more details, but at least you have something to look forward to.

On that note, I've got to get myself organized.

Hae a super day!!!


Ciao!!!