Delete, delete, delete

 Things I've learned along the way. 

1. There are apps on my phone that I can use to identify plants and other nature stuff. I did know that, and I have one on my phone; however, I never seem to use it. I should use it more. The app I have is called iNaturalist. 

2. The Wild Rhubarb is also known as burdock. Apparently, in the UK, burdock and dandelion are used to make a soft drink. Who knew!!!!  Hey -- we have dandelions, and we have burdock. How hard would it be to brew some up? You can buy some at that link!

3. When I buy shoes, I should buy more than one pair at a time! YES! I found a pair for $90, and I'm tempted to buy THREE pairs - that'll do me for the year. And if I don't like them, I can return. But just suck it up and realize that your feet are bigger than you think they are and order Size 9!

4. I learned a lot about my mySewnet embroidery software, and if you want to keep in the loop, they have a YouTube channel with some GREAT resource material. If that link doesn't work, just search for mySewnet embroidery software on Youtube. 

5. There's a TON of stuff to watch on The Quilt Show website. To get the maximum benefit, you probably need to be a member, but I'm LOVING watching all the Facebook lives of Alex. Oh my god -- we are so much alike, except that she likes to use pins, and I do not!! But they are funny and entertaining, and I need anything LIGHT to listen to these days. 

6. The Quilter's Last Will and Testament. I had seen this on The Quilt Show, and someone sent it to me. So check this out. We must deal with our stuff because who knows what will happen to it when we're gone. 

7. An unusual quilter. Read this story about Justin Yong - a photographer turned quilter. It's a great story, and I love his journey. 

Wow -- that's a whole lot of learning and links!!! 

I'm making great progress on the magazine quilt. I've got ONE block done out of 48, and it's exactly how I envisioned it would look. Many components are made for the remaining blocks, and it shouldn't take long to put them together. 

As I was going through my fabrics, I came across these two, which made me laugh. My taste in fabric has definitely changed over the years. But these two pieces are ones that I would definitely use. The packaging and the price tells me that I bought these YEARS ago - I'm going to say at least 15 - 18 years ago. 

One is a nice solid black (I think it's black batik), and the other is a nice black, but not really a black - it's more of a brown-black which is hard to use. Notice after all these years that even the price tag is still attached, and they are folded EXACTLY as I purchased them. SIGH!!!!! So if they are fabrics I would use, why haven't I used them? 

Look at that price for a HALF METER—$ 7.65. 

Price for a half-meter of fabric

As I was walking the girls in the morning, I realized that I can't do it all. OK - so I've known that for a long time, but I was thinking about my e-mail in particular. I have e-mails that I need to respond to. I did manage to deal with a few, but there are still a few that I have to deal with. My problem is that I don't flag those e-mails, and then they get lost in a mess.

I decided that ANY e-mail that came to me as part of a mass mailing needs to go. I could unsubscribe, but I don't want to do that. And there are a few that I won't delete because I do want to read them. Hey -- it's hard to go cold turkey on some stuff. 

So this is what my inbox looked like before I started. 

Pre-deleting

Remember when I had my last little e-mail hiccup - I was down to 700. Well, it didn't take long for that to ballon to 4,222. I struggle with those that lead me somewhere else, and I forget to delete the original message. I have LOADS of those. 

After my little delete session - I didn't have a lot of time and only got through the A's; I was down to 3,591. 

Post-deleting

As I went through the A's, I responded to some of the e-mails that needed attention. I did a lot of work on the B's and hope to continue at least one or two letters of the alphabet every day. The trick now will be to handle all the e-mails that come in during a single day. I should keep track of that, and it really depends on the day. I'm guessing it's something like 50 or more. 

So far, I have 10 new e-mails. And how messages via text and Messenger. It's hard to keep on top of it, which is why I don't really have time to Instagram, Facebook, or any other social platform. 

But the big thing is that I made that decision, and I'm going to keep plugging away at this. I remember my boss at one of my jobs would clean his work e-mail every day. I swear he had nothing to do all day but answer e-mail. Within minutes of getting a message, he would have responded to it. It was insane.

And here's my nature picture of the day. Gosh, this reminds me of Rice Krispies!! A family breakfast staple from my childhood, but only on Sunday!

Well, that's it for today. I've got some writing, some sewing, and one presentation, and hopefully, at least get a quilt loaded on the long arm. 

And if you want an assignment - be ruthless and go through those e-mails!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!