Saying Good-bye

 I have two posts this morning. The second post, which you'll find right after this one, is the last call for class sign-ups for this year's ongoing classes. The clubs are full. Well, as full as I'm going to let them get. I believe I've been in touch with all the clubs except the machine embroidery and the EQ8. I've made the distribution lists - I just need to write the verbiage. 

When I was sorting through some of M's old school stuff, which is still hanging around in the office, I discovered a folder with multiple pockets. At first, I emptied the paperwork (and recycled it all) and tossed the folder in the giveaway pile. 

When I was trying to organize all the distribution lists for the clubs and classes this year, I thought that folder would be convenient. So I've put everything into the folder, and I LOVE it. It's going to be very useful!

I made good progress in getting everything organized yesterday, and I hope to finish later this afternoon. Then comes the sewing part! 

So I spent some time working on my Christmas Fig quilt. Oh boy - I seem to love creating problems for myself. 

I got the top sewn together, and that was easy. I decided to forge ahead and get the border on. I had a striped fabric for that. Not a lot of striped fabric, but there should be enough. When working with a strip, it makes sense to make mitered corners. Well, to do that properly, I needed 8 strips of fabric. But I started cutting the widths at 6". I was going to be short. I was supposed to cut them at 5 ½". Oh, shoot! 

So four of the border pieces got cut at 6" wide, and the other four are 5 ½". No big deal - I'll trim it down when I quilt the quilt. 

Cutting the borders from the striped fabric

I wanted the corners to be perfectly matched, so instead of making a border and sewing it on one side at a time, I had to deal with the corners first and then match the pieces in the center of the sides and the top and bottom. 

But it's all worth the effort - look how perfectly that corner matches. And all four of them match pretty much like the first one does. 

A nicely matched mitered corner

This is what the guilt top looked like before I went to bed.

Christmas Fig quilt top with half the border on

Now I'm dealing with another issue that I knew I was going to have. Two lengths of fabric are NOT long enough for the side borders. 

Oops - short some border fabric

Yep - I'm about 2 inches short. DRAT!!!

A hole!! 

Once the top and bottom borders were matched in the center and trimmed, there remained about 6 inches from each side. Those scraps were matched and added to the ends of the side borders. One is ready to sew this morning at Monday Sewing, and I'll finish the other one this morning. Then the top is DONE. 

The side borders are longer

I've got fabric for the binding and the backing set out, and I'm going to try and get that done today as well. 

I was walking yesterday and noticed this sign at one of the local schools. Yes - self-control, whether that is emotions, buying, eating, or whatever - self-control is important. I have my good moments, and I have bad moments!!!

I'm sure that some of you are familiar with Maria Kondo's book on tidying up. I read the book, and I don't believe totally in her philosophy. It's one of those things that we each need to find the balance for us. 

Do I want to thank everything for its service (even if it was only the pleasure of buying the item but never using it)? No - I think my method is to take a picture of the item for the blog, then saying good-bye! Whether that is to put it in the recycling, the garbage, or in a new home. 

I had been busy tidying up in the office and then sat down to eat dinner. CRASH - Oh Oh - I knew something broke, and it was this cute little maple leaf dish. Well, it broke apart in too many pieces to rescue. I did enjoy using it on my desktop for little trinkets, and now it's time to say good-bye. 

Ooops

I found another odd glove. Seriously??? How many odd gloves do we have around here? I put this in the glove box because I wear these little gloves as liners in my fleece mitts when I walk the dogs. Should I lose one or it gets a hole, I can use this one to replace it. 

An orphan glove

Good grief - a brand new copy of Windows 8.1. I remember buying a computer or something, and the software came installed, but in compliance with copyright, I think they had to give this to me. It's unopened and what a WASTE of money, resources, etc. A total waste. It's in the recycling/garbage. 

An unopened copy of Windows 8.1

And then I have this box in which my wi-fi boosters came in. It says right on the box that I should recycle it. I get that, but that felt pad in the lid and the main part are solidly cemented in there. 

So here's my big beef. How can we recycle packaging responsibly when the manufacturers do not make it easy for us to do so. This results in most stuff getting tossed in the garbage where it fills up the landfill, or it gets tossed in the recycling where it likely ends up in the landfill. 

And there are so many materials today that I ask myself - is this plastic? or is this a type of paper? And can it be recycled??? 

I might pursue this avenue with our local recycling. I mean - I want to be responsible, but I think that's why we keep some of this stuff - we feel guilty to throw it out or put it in recycling. We don't know what to do with it. The plastic film on the Windows 8.1 packaging? Is that recycling or garbage?? Did you know that in our area, bubble wrap is garbage? It cannot be recycled - not sure why. 

Governments should implement strict packaging rules NOW - not in years down the road, but NOW. It's either recycling or garbage - one or the other, but no combinations. People will NOT pull stuff apart to recycle part and part in the garbage. I might, but I think I'm a minority. 

I got more binding done - almost completely done one side now!! Yeah!! 

Working on the binding

Yes, I'm keeping up with the yoga and/or stretching, depending on how I feel. Restorative yoga is basically stretching anyway. But if you think those slow yoga movements are easy? Think again!! I tried a new program last night, and there were several times when I thought I might fall over and be trapped in this position until I die! But, when you get into a pose and then let your muscles relax (which isn't always easy to do), the more you do, the more they release. Oh yes - I should have been doing this a long time ago. 

After I posted the number of books that I read last year, I decided to dig a little deeper into Goodreads. Oh my - I lied. I read 75 books last year, not 72. But I found some other interesting stats. 

Look at the number of pages!!!! 

I love this one - the longest book at 771 pages - that book was LONG. 

I love obscure facts and so finding this information was fun!!!

Well, I've got another busy day ahead of me, and I need to stop sorting as I now have real work that needs to be done with deadlines that will be looming real soon if I don't get cracking and get the projects completed. 

Don't' forget to check out the next post with the class information - in the event you're looking for a new project for this coming year. Remember, you do NOT need to make the entire project - make a smaller one by making part of the projects. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!