The mail room

 Another crazy day - two more presentations. I have a big day today with four! Everything is prepped, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal. But I'm looking forward to the weekend where I only have two short classes of my own. 

But it's all in a day's work for freelancers! When you work for multiple bosses, you never know what to expect. I now have new quilts to make for the magazines (yeah!), so I've got to finalize patterns and source fabrics. That's a job for next week. 

Here's a note about e-mail. Have you ever counted how many you get in a day? I've never counted them, but it seems like it's tons. OK -- just did a quick count, and there are still 72 e-mails from yesterday alone!!! I don't mind e-mails from businesses to advertise their product or their sew-along or their educational materials. What drives me crazy is when I get an e-mail (almost daily) with the SAME stuff. If I wanted it the first time, I'd have ordered it. I do NOT need that. Those are the ones that you want to unsubscribe from! 

A weekly e-mail with your latest and greatest stuff would likely mean that I would open it and read it and maybe buy something (well, not likely since I don't need anything). But this barrage? Why? And once I signed up for some membership thing that cost less than $5 because I thought it would stop the e-mails. Oh no - then I got the same number asking me to join the next level? Seriously???  That is crazy!!!

Yes, I can unsubscribe, but I think some of these stores or organizations (it's mostly organizations or larger companies that do this) need to rethink their e-mail policy! And how many sew along can one be part of? How many countdowns to Christmas? How many whatever???  It's all a ploy to sell their product! You know how it is - if it's not in your face, you'll buy from someone else. And it takes you away from what you really want to sew! 

There was a year a while back where I took note of everything I sewed that year. I sewed blocks of the month, I sewed exchange blocks for several groups, I sewed other things - probably my group quilts (remember - I have to do them all!), and at the end of the year, I realized that I had NOT sewn a single thing for ME. 

Don't get me wrong - Sew Alongs are fun, and it's nice to be part of a group. After all, this is the kind of thing that I teach. But I think we need to be careful of not over-committing ourselves. Quilting is a hobby, and it's supposed to be fun. How many new projects did you start but won't finish by the end of this year? Or you couldn't start that crazy new pattern you wanted because you had too much to do? Well, it's time to think about what you're doing! These days, my focus is to clear up my UFOs and not start anything that doesn't need to be made. Trust me, I have loads that I would like to make, but I'm perfectly happy to do the UFOs. It's like Christmas each time I open one up and get back to work on it. And the satisfaction of getting it done is great!

I have a feeling that we're going to be continuing our online classes next year. Well - that's a given, and I'm scheduling everything online! I'm good with that, and hopefully, with better scheduling, I won't end up with some crazy weeks like this week and last! 

I managed to deal with some paperwork between the sessions, and I even went for a long walk. The weather is gorgeous!!! No errands, just a walk. 

Surprisingly, there was NOTHING new of interest in the neighborhood! But I did get my hollyhock block completed! Yeah!! This is HUGE as it was a block that I didn't like and therefore didn't want to make. But I rejigged the pattern, and now I like it. I can now start the next block, which was also causing me some grief. 

The hollyhock block from Quilter's Patch

Once the second block is made, I believe there are 7 more blocks to make! Then the borders with the applique! Oh well - I'm going to attempt to get it finished by the end of this year. That should be doable as my schedule will open up soon, and I'm not planning on filling it with anything but stuff for me!

Here are my trays of work by the sewing machine. Only three trays left at the moment, and one of them is cutting. The other two are sewing and shouldn't take long to sew. Once this gets cleared up, the next set of trays will be prepped. I like my tray system - I can easily move them out of the way if I have to sew something else, which can happen in the wild sample-making world that I live in. 

Three trays of sewing

Oh boy - I think it's time to clear off the kitchen table! I've literally dumped the mail and other stuff that passed from floor to floor. I received four quilts back this week, and they just got dumped. A customer quilt and stuff that needs to be sorted and put away! I'm usually pretty good about keeping the kitchen table tidy, but not this week. That's a job for Saturday, or maybe today between the presentations; I'll be able to pick out some of the stuff and put it away and unpack the quilts!

The mail is overtaking the kitchen table

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have this panel and is willing to sell it to me???

Looking for this panel

It's a Northcott panel from the Oh Canada collection. They are totally sold out of it, and I want to make a quilt for Quilts of Valour. I'm going to go through the list of stores that purchased the panel, but many stores bought it, so it will be a long job to do that.  Or if you know of a store that has the panel, let me know, and I'll call them. 

Over 50 stores bought that panel in Ontario. Yikes - I'm going to make up an e-mail template and send a request to them all! Just because they bought the panel doesn't mean that they still have it in stock!

Well, I'd better get myself organized for the crazy day ahead of me. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!