The neighborhood watchers

 Who knew two weeks ago that I would actually get all that work done, and I would survive and even find a few spare moments to watch The Great British Bake Off? That Paul guy is pretty darn good-looking. And I must STOP thinking about baking something. Good grief -- what is happening to me? 

I still have two presentations today, a Facebook Live and one of my own classes tonight. The weekend will be entirely on Zoom, but I have minimal prep, so it's all fun stuff, and I can't wait!

There are still two weeks of "work," but after that, I think I have four weeks with nothing scheduled, and the trick will be to NOT schedule anything into those two weeks. It'll be nice to get up and say that NOTHING is on the schedule and NOTHING needs to be done. Other than those customer quilts, but that's OK. 

I have to say that the ladies in Quebec are so sweet! One of them searched me out on Facebook, sent me some information we chatted about and sent me a nice note.

I'm really enjoying the French presentations, even though they are still a wee bit stressful. But I have a couple of French-speaking people who would be willing to get together to chat about sewing.  I have one other person who might be interested -- I must ask her today. That would be four, and that's enough to get started. 

But some of those new words are now solid in my head! Yeah!!!! 

I am pretty much up to date with the presentations for tonight and tomorrow. I'm just waiting for the homework photos to come in, and as they come in, I put them in the presentations. I have a bit of sewing that I'd like to get done before one of them tonight. It shouldn't take too long, and I have some time this morning. 

I finally got a chance to catch up with Diane, who had run out of fabric for the community project quilts. I dug out some small bits that she needed for two quilts, and then I dug deep. I am going through the tubs of fabric under the long arm, and well -- look what I found. 

OH --- fabric

All of that pile belongs to the same fabric collection, and I decided that I would never touch it, so it all got packed into a bag. Can you imagine the fun you could have with THIRTY one-yard cuts of fabric - all from the same collection?? And there were three giant preprinted quilt panels as well. 

A "present" for Diane

Oh yes -- our community project quilts are beyond scraps now! She's been working on the excess fabric from my magazine projects and new yardage! All of it must go!!! And for the sewists in all of you - can you imagine a better situation than this. You get brand new yardage - you can make whatever you want, as long as it fits a specific size. You just make the top - no need to get it quilted!!! That's a pretty sweet deal! 

There are still EIGHT tubs of fabric, although some of them are not full! At some point, some of this may go into the stash, and there are a couple of bundles that I want to keep for myself, but most of this will end up in Diane's hands as long as she is willing to sew. Hmmm -- I could just load up the car and give her the entire lot! I wonder what she would say to that? 

Eight tubs of fabric to empty

OK -- so who in their right mind will carry a HUGE bag of fabric at least 1 KM?? Yes -- it was heavy, and I was glad to drop it off, but it was also out of the house!! I could have used the car, but seriously--- where's the adventure in that? And where's the story?

You cannot believe how free it feels to let this stuff go!! I was so excited that I was practically dancing around the house! It's glorious, and my goal is to get those tubs empty at some point. They will be filled with other bits and stuff from around the house, as I aim to get all my projects consolidated. 

BUT -- I need to get to the long arm to get some of those quilts quilted!! Well, some of the community projects, at least. Imagine how much room I would have if those quilt tops were also gone? Yep -- I have a goal!!!! Let's just get over this week and next, since I'm away for part of next week, and then we can get the long arm back in business, and my goal is to get customer quilts and those community project quilts done.,

I mentioned that we had to have two trees cut down in front of the house. I know two excited girls who are thrilled the trees are gone. The trees used to block their view - now they can see the entire street, and they love it!  They are so cute sitting there looking out!

The neighborhood watch!

OK -- so I had an issue with my "free" membership to the streaming service that hosts The Great British Bake Off, and I was in withdrawal! But I managed to get into the service so I could watch the next show. Who mentioned this show to me? Those darn MONDAY sewing ladies!!! Good grief -- just like that, I'm addicted again.

Oh well -- I did get one more applique block done for the Enchanted Autumn quilt. 

Applique block ready for stitching

There is one more applique block, but I have to piece part of the block first. And here are the blocks that are together. 

The Enchanted Autumn quilt

There are some pieced blocks to work on, stitching around the appliques and borders to add. So still lots of work, but I've made excellent progress, and I'm thrilled. Perhaps I'll work on this during the Virtual Retreat. 

Oh, Murphy! She just can't help herself. Her toys are strewn all over the floor once again!! It's funny how Lexi doesn't even know toys exist, and Murphy has them everywhere in the house and tries to sneak them outside if she can!

Murphy's toys

And as I was coming up the stairs, I spotted a clump of what I thought was Murphy's hair. I tossed it in the garbage. Then I found another big chunk. Good grief -- what's happening? Then I realized that they had found a hole in their quilt, and someone (most likely Lexi) was trying to get all the batting out of the quilt. Silly girl!!!  This is the LAST quilt I have for them, and if she wrecks this one -- they are sleeping on nothing! 

Emptying the quilt

It's funny how the new mailboxes are being installed in the neighborhood. It's totally sporadic. One of them was installed several streets over, and it's been there for a long time. No others. Then the other day, I noticed that this one went in - right behind the old one. Gosh -- it's even got an advertising sticker on it - probably before it was even installed. And yesterday, the old one was gone. Maybe we'll get a new one in ten years? I'm not sure what their rollout plan is, but it's pretty sporadic! This one is around the corner from us. But still lots of old ones in the neighborhood. 

The old and the new mailboxes

As I was waiting for one of the presentations to start, I cleaned up my desk. It was littered with my papers. Now it's all collected into one pile, and I need to go through it and regroup. Anything that needs to be tweaked or added to the agenda. 

Paperwork to clean up

Now that there will be some downtime, I might just try and get some of the office space cleaned up. It's frustrating that if I had never let it get to this stage, I wouldn't have to find time to manage the stuff or get rid of it! That's one of life's lessons -- do we even realize how much time it takes to manage the crap we have collected? Oh well -- it is what it is, and I'll just have to deal with it. But I can barely wait until the day when it's all together properly!! What will I do with my free time? 

I have no plans to retire, but I would LOVE to have the entire house organized by then. I may still need to take a file or two or a box and go through it, but the major purge would be done, and then I could spend my days doing ONLY what I want. When it comes time to downsize, it will be a breeze. Well, you get the picture. So, I'm chiseling away at it, and it WILL happen. Baby steps are all I can manage - both mentally and physically. But I will get there!!

Don't forget that today is Facebook Live. 

I'm not sure if this is the right place to direct you -- I should have checked it out last week. If you go to the QUILTsocial page on Facebook and look under MORE -- there is a tab for LIVE. There might also be a link directly on the QUILTsocial (Facebook) page, or it might be under videos. I'm sorry -- I should have checked it out to give you a better direction. You can always watch it after the fact. BUT -- come check it out as we'll be talking about all the cool projects that I made this week, including mending sweaters and different types of stabilizers!!

Here's the link for QUILTsocial.com, where I'm mending a cashmere sweater with the embroidery machine. Yep!!! Be sure to check that out. 

And don't forget the Virtual Retreat this weekend. Yeah!!!!!  I have loads to sew, so I can't wait to get started. 

Saturday, November 27 from 6 PM -- whenever!

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89254233911?pwd=VGQrTnFybW1HMWpleHA4M2Q2NGVwZz09 Meeting ID: 892 5423 3911 Passcode: 982797

Sunday, November 28 from 10 AM to 8 PM

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87246635892?pwd=VGY1cUUyLzRaRi9VUVV2ZWFINXc2dz09 Meeting ID: 872 4663 5892 Passcode: 440473

On that note -- It's time to move!! I've got KM to walk, seams to sew, and presentations to give!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!