S L O W D O W N

 

So far, so good! Everything is on track; I'm puttering around and keeping the tables clear - whether the cutting table or my computer desk. I've realized that I'm using my cutting table as a general-purpose work table. As I clear part of it off, I put stuff on it that needs to be dealt with! That makes perfect sense, and I'm OK with that. The key is to NOT let things remain there, and I think I've got that habit well under control now.  

Same thing with the paper in the office. I've managed to clear up a whole lot of paper, now that I have room to work! I have several documents that need to be written and I started one yesterday, so it'll all get done! I would have taken a picture of the cutting table to show you, but my magazine quilt is currently on it, so you'll get a picture tomorrow, but I am pleased with my progress. 

I even managed to get rid of the weight creep! Yep -- it didn't take long to get back inside my happy zone. How did I do that so quickly? It was easy - No DESSERTS. I swear that my body looks at any dessert and says -- this stuff is good - we're hanging onto this and packs on a pound or two! 

I've been told that I'm obsessive about my weight. I'm not obsessive - I'm just cautious! If I don't watch, I can quickly put on 5 pounds. Then without dealing with those five pounds, I can pack on another, which becomes an issue. I don't want to deal with the more significant problem. 

It's pretty much the same thing in my working spaces. If I let things pile up - then it becomes a HUGE process to deal with. That's what I'm going through in the office right now. It would be easy to put things away if I had not let it get out of control. Now, it's a challenge because of the size of the mess. 

Do I miss those desserts? Not really. DH buys them and wants to share. If he wants to buy them for himself, I have no issue. I'm not tempted. I have my own treats. I like my little bit of chocolate every day, and I eat just enough in a day to keep me going! I'm just trying to eat very little processed sugar as that is a killer for my weight. I'll still have dessert from time to time - just not as frequently as he was purchasing it! 

We've had loads of rain in the last couple of days, and Lexi and I had to negotiate this big puddle. I didn't have my rain boots, so I teetered along on the logs on the left side, and she traipsed right through. My feet were dry!

A large puddle in the forest

That's the story of Lexi's life - just go right through everything. She's not the pretty delicate princess that she used to be. There's a barrier in the forest that never got picked up by the city. I get Murphy to jump over the barrier, Lexi? She just runs underneath! What a slacker!

So here's the story of my quilt of the day. I got everything set up and took a picture in anticipation of having issues. Again, the problems are with the software, NOT the quilt. OK -- I'm fibbing big time. The problems are NOT with the software, nor are they with the quilt. Ah -- that would be operator error! 

Set up for the next quilt - just in case!

Here's the quilt of the day - it's done. And there wasn't a single issue with it, not with the quilt and not with the software. 

Customer quilt - DONE

So what happened with the four previous quilts? I did post a message on the user's group, and someone mentioned that I'm hitting the FINISH button too quickly. I've never had that issue in the past, but I watched it like a hawk yesterday, and there is a slight delay between when the long arm physically stops and the FINISH button appearing on the screen. I diligently waited for the FINISH button to fully appear and NO ISSUES. 

I guess the lesson of the day is S L O W  D O W N. I must have been in a rush or something when I did those other ones, and of course, once it happened once in a quilt, the software just wasn't happy unless I reset everything. 

So I'll just have to pay more attention to that. I just find it very weird that it's never happened before, and then all of a sudden, it happened four times in a row. 

I got five new projects to Diane and received two back! 

Two new community project quilts

I'm hoping to get some time in December to quilt some of those community project quilts. November is going to be filled with writing, presentations, and prepping samples! I do have some customer quilts to quilt - I'm not sure I can handle any more than what is currently in the queue, so anything new will have to wait until December or January! Once I start quilting these quilts, I'll be ripping through my backings and those bolts of fabric. 

My calendar is all set for the first six months of next year. Well, all the trips that I want to take are scheduled. That's so I can work dates for classes around my pleasure time. Yep- I get first dibs on my calendar. This weekend sometime, I hope to publish the list of classes that I'll be teaching next year. It'll be posted on my blog. 

On that note, I'm out of here! Two French presentations today and two small quilts. Then lots of computer time!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!