Why sewing on Zoom is better than inperson

OH -- Carla made a good point in her comment. Clutter in her house resulted from gifts people had given her in the past. And isn't that the truth! People think something is so cute and appropriate for you, or they just feel compelled to buy you a gift. The clutter is now gone in her house, and the new rule is NO GIFTS, please! Can you imagine the home of a school teacher? 

I LOVE her new rule, and while I haven't received too many gifts, I can see how it would add up. And think of how many times you spent hours searching for that perfect gift for someone's birthday, and there's a considerable likelihood that they didn't use it! I say if you want to give a gift, make it a consumable -- Tim's card, cash (I know tacky), or their favorite food or beverage -- not a fancy one, not the specialty kinds, not a gift basket, but if they like a specific type of cheese -- buy that cheese! Or they like beer - buy their brand of beer. Then they will use it, it doesn't become clutter, and everyone is happy. 

I still like Carla's rule -- NO gifts of any kind. The gift should be the QUALITY time spent with each other. Brilliant advice!!

Speaking of clutter, Elle shared pictures of her sewing room with me, and I have permission to share them with you. 

I LOVE this giant cutting/work table. Wait a minute -- her sewing machine is on that table. Hmm - I wonder how tall the table is; of course, it depends on how tall she is. But I love that giant surface. I'm also jealous of that window in her room! 

Gorgeous sewing and workspace

I have to admit that part of me is jealous of her space. Why? Because she has it paired down to one room, everything is super organized, and she doesn't need to spend loads of time looking for things or managing them! And should she need to move, it will take no time to put that into boxes. 

The supply cupboard

All things that I could achieve myself, but look at that stash. There's enough to keep her busy for a long time. There's no need to buy huge quantities like I did, half of which keeps getting passed over. Yes --- this is someone much smarter than I. But I will not worry about it as I have a plan!

The stash

I mean, how wonderful would it be, knowing that you could be out of there with a handful of boxes? 

More stash

Me? I have six boxes of novelty fabric! That will go at some point with all the quilts we are making for community projects but still!

Thanks for sharing, and that just shows that you can have an organized sewing room that fits in ONE room and seems to have all the stuff we need. Even though that fabric is contained in what looks like a closet, there's a fair amount, and it's neat and tidy so finding something is not a big deal! That's the key -- how much time do you want to spend managing your stuff?

Or would you rather spend that time sewing, reading, or whatever other hobbies you have! 

Thanks for sharing! And there's hope for all of us. The biggest issue is quantity, and I've learned the hard way that more is NOT better. 

With all these tips we are giving each other, we will have spic and span homes and be much happier! 

Well, I must confess that even with Monday sewing, I did NOT get much done yesterday. We had our usual Show and Tell, which went on a bit longer than expected as we looked at pictures of Quilt Canada, thanks to Jane! We didn't get through them all, so we'll pick them up next week. What fun to experience those pictures as a group! 

And this brings me to an interesting point. For years, we had an in-person sewing group. We packed up our sewing machines and our projects. We went to The Hobby Horse for part of it, so no setup was required as we used the classroom. Then we moved to a church where we had to store cords and power bars and set up the tables and chairs. Let's face it -- this is a considerable PHYSICAL effort, with time and money involved.  

We now have the opportunity to connect again at the church and its decision time. I've decided NOT to return to in-person sewing. Why? 

• Saves on gas. While this is only a 20 KM drive (40 round trip), it's 40 KM that I don't need to do every week, and my carbon footprint is much smaller. 
• Saves on time. Depending on the traffic, this could take a fair amount of time to get there, and there is currently construction (and has been for years) on the route I would take. 
• Better scheduling. I can get some paperwork done or go to spin class, walk the dogs, and then pop right into the virtual sewing - no travel time involved. 
• Less physically demanding. Let's face it -- my wrists, knees, legs, and back will all be happier if they don't need to set up my own table and help others. 
• I will never forget a thing. No need to worry if I forget an essential part of my project at home. 
• Never wait for the cutting table or ironing board. Yep -- it's just me!
• Wider reach of audience. We now have people from northern Ontario (more north than me), and one person from the US, who can come, people who work and want to stop by to say hi can attend, and people who just want the show and tell can attend. If you had an appointment, you would miss the entire sewing day. Now you can drop in even if for a few minutes. 
• Hot lunches -- If I want a hot lunch, I can make it in my kitchen. 
• The temperature is always right! No one can complain it's too hot or too cold!
• The weather is never an issue! 
• Cost -- our new method is FREE. OK -- so I pay for the license, but it's about $200 for the year, and I absorb the cost because I use it for teaching. But still, if I were to pass on that cost to the group, we would pay way less than we would for a physical location! 
• Talk to EVERYONE  -- with Zoom, we can chat with the entire group. When it was in person, you tended to talk to those at your table, and if you overheard someone at another table, they would have to repeat the story. 
• Show and Tell -- we have a great show and tell on Zoom. There's no way we could have shared those photos and had the same discussion about Quilt Canada if we didn't do it on Zoom. And other people can pop in an extra picture or two if they know how to do that, and we do! 
• And our group is connected on off days with a What's App group! I mean -- we are connected and so much better than it was before when we met in person. 

So -- can you tell me why we would ever want to meet in person? Don't get me wrong -- I love to meet in person, but it can be exhausting! And if we go for several days, as in a quilt retreat, then I'm all for it. It's a much smaller group, and you are going for several days, so it's worth the effort, and no need to set up tables and chairs where we go. But just for a couple of hours? I'm so over that. 

Here's the other thing that I don't get. People say they need that physical connection. So we are NOT a hugging group, but we crave the social aspect of it, so why would we want to get together in-person weekly when we get the social part from the comfort of our homes? And what if you have pets or other persons who require attention? You wouldn't want to leave them, so Zoom is excellent. 

Let's just say that if some of the group decides to return to the physical meeting, I might be looking for new people to join my virtual Monday sewing. I'll let you know! 

I think it's time we embrace new ways of doing things, and I believe that many good things happened because of the pandemic, and Zoom was one of them! It's so cost-effective and has so many other benefits.  

As for how much sewing I did, it wasn't a lot. But as I mentioned, sometimes, it's all about the social, and if I didn't get much done, that's OK because it didn't really take a lot of time, money, or effort out of my day. If I had traveled to the location and only accomplished the same amount, I would be sad!

I did get the rows together for my quilt. 

The rows are together

Then I got on phone calls and chatted, and well, not much more happened. I have the strips for the sashing, and the inner border joined and ready to sub-cut. 

The sashing waiting to be cut

Murphy is trying very hard to be good on her leash. And for the most part, she is so much better. But yesterday, in the forest, a squirrel taunted her. Instead of running into the trees on the side of the path,  the squirrel trotted down the path in front of her for a fair distance. Pure torture for her! 

MOM -- I NEED to chase that squirrel

And then last night, when I was reading my book, she became fascinated with something under her bed. I did not get up to investigate! 

MOM -- there's something under my bed

And what's the status of the front yard? We now have a beautiful sidewalk along the side of the house instead of that weed-infested interlock. This goes back to the deck at the back of the house. It's not as wide as the gate because there's a small space with river rock for drainage. 

The new sidewalk

Between my neighbor and myself, that little bed of river rock was overgrown with ivy. My side is now clear of ivy, and I want to go and dig out what's in the neighbor's yard, so it doesn't grow back in mine. 

Inside my neighbor's backyard

The young man who lives there wouldn't even know I was there and wouldn't even realize the ivy had disappeared. So I'll do it early one morning, and it will be done. His parents have been overseas since the pandemic, and the house -- well, the yard is going wild as we watch. It's terrible because they took such pride in their yard, and now it's full of weeds. 

We're getting a new curb along the edge of the driveway. A FLAT one will make it much easier to maintain than the raised one we had. And that space between the curb and the neighbor's lawn used to be our driveway. So less driveway to shovel in the winter, and now we have room for a couple of trees. I do worry a bit about the much narrower driveway, but I think after we have it for a bit, we won't miss the extra space. 

The new flat curb

Instead of space to park a car, this pile of stones is in our drive. This is the top of the patio/front step. 

Stones for the patio

We now have a big sturdy step up to that patio area, and they are working on putting in the stones for it. I didn't take a picture yesterday. Don't worry -- it's not what you think! There are only TWO significant flat steps. 

The steps to the patio

But all is good on that front! I still want to chat to him about the proposed small patch of grass in the front. It's so tiny that it will be a pain to maintain. Could we get something else? I did like my mulch, or someone suggested we use spreading junipers?? I'll chat with him tomorrow. 

We're getting other things fixed at the same time. The gazebo's roof will need to be replaced, but in the meantime, there are no holes in the roof. It will get a total facelift either at the end of the summer or next. We'll see how the timing goes. The fence is fixed as best it can be until we replace it. Some wobbly posts and rotted areas are repaired. So all is good! 

On that note, I'm out of here. I have an all-day class to sit in on, and I'm excited about it. And after that, my time will be my own for an entire week! Now that I'm feeling better, I need that time to catch up on some quilting and other projects. And there is NOTHING scheduled for this weekend! Yeah!!!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!