Back to Normal

Back to normal - what exactly does that mean these days? We're now able to go to the movies, eat indoors at restaurants, meet in small groups, and a whole lot more. But wearing masks and social distancing is probably with us for a long, long time.

I'm OK with that. I think, as a society, we're a whole lot healthier because of it. I haven't heard many sneezes or hacking coughs. People are either too afraid to do either in public, or they are just healthier!! Which goes to show that if you're sick, you should be staying home. Now, if only the workplace can figure that one out. Hey - have your employees work from home!

I don't have a lot of allergies, and I'm thankful for that, but gosh - I'm becoming super sensitive to perfumes. We accidentally bought laundry detergent with a scent. The window in the office was open the other day, and I was doing laundry. The dryer vents outside close to the window, and I was about gagging from the smell. It was the laundry detergent scent intensified from the dryer - we don't use dryer sheets. Holy - we better not make that same mistake again. How can people tolerate that stuff? And my clothes smell - it's awful.

When I pass some people these days, I'm wondering if they've gone back to the tricks of the Victorian era where they would layer on the cologne and perfumes to mask the lack of hygiene??  Holy people - you do NOT need that much.

The boomerang project is very much under control and almost out of my hair. Yeah!!! I had other stuff that I had to get done yesterday, so I had to take a wee break, but I did still work on it. I feel like I've been chained to the computer the entire week! I hate that!

But I'm happy to report that I spent some time prepping for the retreat. Yeah!! That makes me feel like I'm actually getting something done.

I got the topstitching from the second little pouch ripped out. The lining is cut, even the corners (to make the box corners). This is now in a bag with the matching thread.

Zippered pouch number 1

And here's the second zippered pouch - all ready to be sewn together.

The second zippered pouch

I've got one more pouch to make from this fabric, but I need to find a strip of Decor-Bond and some webbing to finish it. Oh, and a buckle. So that's on the agenda for this morning - find the missing stuff and put it in the bag, so it's all ready to go. Before, I'd just shove that in the retreat basket and hope that everything was in there - only to find that I was missing stuff to finish it. Well, no more.

I think there are three other zippered pouches that I can make from some orange fabric that was prequilted. I hope to get those ready for the retreat as well. I might just be able to steal a few minutes this weekend to get that stuff prepped. I have a quilt of mine that HAS to be quilted and bound by Monday. It's a custom job, so it's going to take some time. It's my focus this weekend.

Then I pulled out this other project. It's on my UFO list for 2020. It's a string quilt made with busy green fabrics. I'm using newsprint (yellow pages) for the foundation, which is a 60-degree triangle. I had a bunch made, but how many more did I need to make??

60-degree triangle string quilt

I had no idea, so now I have a map that I created in EQ8. I counted the triangles that were sewn (149), and I need to make 31 triangles. There's PLENTY of green strips in that case to make 31 triangles. Then I can start to sew the triangles together. This project has been sitting around for several years, and I'd like to get it done.

I pulled out a Yellow Pages from my ample supply of the darn things. I think this one is from 2010. And nope - they don't make them any longer. I wonder when they stopped? It's been several years now.

Yellow Pages from 2010

I thought I'd have a peek at the Quilting category. I got a laugh out of that. I don't think all the listings are retail, and quite a few of those are closed now.

Quilting in the Yellow Pages circa 2010

Then I ripped out 31 pages so I can cut them down using my 60-degree ruler so this project will be ready for the retreat. I do like to be totally prepped, so all I have to do is sew.

Yellow pages need to be cut into 60-degree triangles

And here's the retreat basket to date. Some stuff is sitting outside because it needs some more work before it goes in or is waiting for me to find the pattern, cut something, or whatever.

The retreat basket

The laundry basket is FAR from full. Oh, yes - my backpack is back in there. But only to work on the straps. I need to find the pattern for the straps. It's here somewhere. That's why I've been feeling out of sorts lately. Things are strewn everywhere as I tried to get things under control. I wasn't that successful, but now I can get back on track. The pattern is actually on my desk as I need to order the buckles which I might do today since I wasn't able to buy them at Fabricland.

While the basket is far from full, there's quite a bit of work in there. I have two bags that I want to add and the orange zippered pouches. That's it. There's already so much in there to do, and the basket is not full. Gosh - I'm becoming so much more reasonable!!! I'll have no problem fitting the toolbox in there.

Little Bear and I took a walk to the library yesterday to return some books. Now that things are moving, albeit slowly, at the library, I had some books that were due. One of them I hadn't read, so I need to put it on hold once it clears off my account. And there are 6 or 7 new books that slipped through the system, and I had to make an appointment to pick them up. I should have delayed that pickup as long as possible, but still, the earliest I could get was August 11. No worries - I have a lot of reading material here.

On our way home, we passed these gorgeous flowers. Where are the hummingbirds??? I think these are called trumpet flowers??? I have no idea how I know that.

Trumpet flowers

 I discovered something else yesterday. Oh, first, I LOVE my new FitBit. The bracelet is so much more comfortable than the old one. It's softer and more supple. It does a lot more, and of course, I don't know how to do any of that yet. But I'll figure it out. I do know how to find the weather app on the Fitbit, so that's a start.

So the four of us - Ronda, Shelly, Laura, and I signed up to do the Big Canada Run as a team. It's a virtual walk/run. I'm so used to seeing our individual progress on the map for Route 66 that I was missing that for this run. Well, yesterday, I found the map.  Yeah!!!!  We started in St. John's and walk around the northern route in Newfoundland. We've walked over 900 KM, and we're almost at the ferry landing.


Our marker is the greenish one pretty much right in the middle of the map. That's pretty exciting. There are a lot of individuals who are doing the run and a lot of teams. Some teams consist of two people, all the way to 27. Our small team of four is doing great, and I think we're in second place for teams of 4. Way to go, ladies!!!  We rock!!!! We should be able to do the distance in 10 months, and that gives us two months of leeway in case we start to slack off. Not all of our group has logged their miles, so I bet we're probably closer to 1,000 KM.

Almost at the ferry dock for the Big Canada Run

I love these Virtual Walks and can't wait to finish one, so I can start another. I'm at 67% of the Route 66 walk. Almost in Arizona. Yeah!!! 

Speaking of walking, it's almost time to get the girls ready. I now have to do two walks each morning. It's too much to take all three, especially with Murphy and her harness situation. More on that another day. So I do two shorter walks, which makes all of them unhappy because I'm the only one who gets to do the entire walk! Too bad - I'm the one with the hungry FitBit!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!