Back to work!

Let's not panic, but it's back to work today! I had a quick peek at my calendar and realized that I have classes starting NEXT weekend. Well, a sew-along, embroidery club, and a whole lot more. More on that tomorrow in case anyone still wants to sign up. I'll be working on all the e-mails that I owe to new and returning students tomorrow. No choice now! 

I made great progress yesterday. The magazine quilt is ready for the binding to be put on this morning, and it'll get picked up later today. The photos for the other project are sent, and I'm almost done with the writing. All in a day's work! After that, there are no magazine deadlines - well, not in the immediate future. 

Before I could quilt the magazine quilt, I had to quilt this table runner. It's trimmed and ready for the binding to be sewn on. Maybe a job for Monday sewing as well. 

Table runner - DONE

I used the long arm and one of the triangle patterns that came with the software to stitch the setting triangles. That was so easy!!  Oops - the tension wasn't quite as nice as I like it, but then I didn't like the blue fabric for the backing. It is quite thick, yet it's cotton. Oh well. Once it's washed, I'm sure it'll be fine. 

The quilting on the setting triangle

Speaking of washing, I washed the quilt that is to be gifted. I just need to find a box. It looks amazing!! I'm glad I washed it. Oh, shoot - I'll take a picture before I send it. 

In cleaning up, I'm also getting rid of sewing machines. NO - there isn't a sewing machine to give away. But I have someone interested in my Mega Quilter, and I figured that before I sold it or at least lent it to this person to test, I should check it out. So in between all the other stuff that I've been doing, I've been testing the machine. 

I pulled a project from the current project pile - a string quilt. And I've been happily piecing that. This machine is FAST and will go through anything. Needless to say, it went through my string quilt pieces like butter. A little tweaking of the tension and all is good. I'll keep the machine set up until she comes to get it. Then I'll move a new machine in its place. 

Piecing on the Mega-Quilter

I've managed to get three pieces of "string" attached to almost all of the 80 blocks. It took so little time to make that happen. My goal is to try and finish the blocks. That was contained in a BIG bag on the current projects table. You can't really see that I've taken a few projects off the table because they were housed in the bins, and I just pulled from the bottom - like the game - Jenga!

My string pieced blocks

OK -- so I love that current projects table. It's kind of like going shopping! If I don't have an immediate deadline, I can pick anything I want from that pile, and if I get it done? That's even better. Remember - I'm much more focused these days. 

Speaking of focused - I did another 30-minutes of yoga last night. The same session which I'll do for a while. I don't care. I must say that the night before, while I slept well, I was in a bit of pain as my muscles are trying to release. Last night was much better. Yep  - I have to keep at this, or I'll be a cripple!

Here's the last of my organizing pictures. I had decided to tackle a spot in the office. I swear I took a before picture, but I can't find it. Oops - just found it. 

So this is one wall in the office. And yes - there is a second door to this space! This is going to be my goal when I have some time to work on it. This is where I found the odd mitts!

The office before

So this is what it looks like this morning. I know - it doesn't look like much has gone away, but several boxes have been moved. There's only ONE row of boxes, not one and part of one, as in the photo above. God - I'm just like my mother. Except that she had three rows of boxes! 

The office after

I found an entire bag filled with clothespin of all sizes and shapes. I knew I had the bag; I just didn't know where it was. 

A bag of clothespins

I found a tin in my empty box area and tried to cram everything in the tin. But it wouldn't all fit. Well, I don't really need these plastic clothespins, so they got bagged up. 

Fancy clothespins

The bag of plastic clothespins is going in the giveaway box unless someone has a burning desire to have them. I already have some plastic pins on my portable drying rack, so I don't need more. 

A bag of plastic clothespins

And now all the wooden pins and decorative clothes pins fit in the tin, which is now in Studio B's craft section. And that section is like the rest of the space. Things are off the floor, but at some point, they will need to be further refined. For the moment, it's OK. 

 A tin of wooden clothespins

I did move these three boxes to Studio B. They contain fabric that I shipped home from my parents' farm a couple of years ago. I know there's one piece of gorgeous fabric that I got from my aunt, and the rest (I think) is Fortrel or crimpoline. I really should check because one of them feels a bit empty - I might be able to consolidate it into two boxes. 

New boxes moved to Studio B

I found these luggage tags from when we went to Disney years ago! I don't think we need them any longer. They are gone. I took a picture, and I have memories of that trip, and that's enough. My favorite memory of visiting Disneyworld was M. She was four?? We had a big day planned with lots of walking, and she wanted to wear this crazy pair of pink flip-flops. Nothing could change her mind. I had visions of having to come back to the hotel to get a different pair of shoes - I was NOT carrying an extra pair of shoes. She didn't complain once about the pink flip-flops. I think I still have those darn flip-flops, and I know exactly where they are - I do have a plan for them, which is why I hung onto them!!

Disney luggage tags

I also grabbed this little basket. This is filled with odd things. I've been through part of it, but still a bit more to go. I know that I should just toss the entire thing, but I can't. Extra cords go in the electrical recycling, and well, I did find one or two useful little treasures. I'm OK if this takes a while. I'm able to do it. Just imagine if you have lots of these little baskets of odds and ends and someone else needs to clean them up? They'll toss everything. Not that there is anything valuable, but why should someone else have to deal with the junk that you just couldn't bear to part with? 

A junk basket

I swear that junk baskets get created because of children. Some of this stuff belonged to M, who had no idea what to do with it. We need to teach our children how to deal with stuff that they do NOT want. It's a life skill that is sadly lacking, so everyone thinks it's OK to just toss the stuff. 

So my goal is to get these baskets of little odds and sods out of the way, and I know there is a lot of that in the office. It became the catch-all for everything - sort of like a junk drawer. We no longer have a junk drawer - I cleaned it up years ago, and it never became a junk drawer again!

That needs to happen here. Deal with things before they become a huge obstacle! I know this is doable - I can feel it, and I'm motivated. I won't have a lot of time in the next while, but even if I carve out a few minutes each day - I'm OK with that. It's happening!!!

Oh -- I'll share my Cherrywood Challenge (Princess Diana was the theme with PINK fabric) with you later this week, but in case you want to see what some others have done, you can check out Instagram with the hashtags - #Cherrywoodchallenge and #Cherrywoodchallenge2020. 

Oh my - I finished the audiobook yesterday. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. It's excellent. I started a new one about a virus!!  It's called The End of October by Lawrence Wright. He started writing the book in 2017 and finished in 2019. Who knew???  

On that note - I'm out of here. 

Have a super day, and what can you get tidied up with 10-minutes???

Ciao!!!!