Shipping SNAFU!

I went to bed last night utterly exhausted! My afternoon walk was only to the library, yet I did well over 13 KM in the day! How did that happen? Back and forth to the long arm, back and forth to the storage room, moving boxes and fabric, and everything else! 

But -- Studio B is almost back to normal, and I'm so excited! 

First, let's chat about advent calendars. For whatever reason, I got on a roll with advent calendars this year. M got an adventure calendar, and she's already solved the first clue! I opened up my first package from the Watergirl Advent calendar. Oh shoot -- I should share what we got -- let me do that tomorrow. And some of the companies have videos showing the store owner opening the box. More on those tomorrow. 

I had ordered one for DH. It came from England, and I've been watching the tracking. However, when I was away, I didn't, so imagine my surprise yesterday when I saw they were about to return it as it was REFUSED at our house on Monday. WHAT???? NOOOOOOOO   -- you can't do that. I immediately e-mailed the seller and the carrier to say - do NOT return this item. We were home, and what happened? The carrier is DHL. 

Last night around 5 PM, the doorbell rang, which I didn't hear as I was listening to an audiobook. DH lets me know, and I run upstairs. I noticed the address was from Korea, but that did NOT register in my brain. The box looked like it had been opened and retaped shut, and it seemed large, but I didn't pay attention. I plunked the box on the floor in his office. 

The missing box

Then about 10 minutes later, the doorbell rings again, and oops -- -you have the wrong package. But at least he also had MY box. I bet they tried to deliver the package on Monday, and someone (more intelligent than I) said -- we're not expecting a package, and they flagged it refused! 

So we switched them out, and I again gave the box to DH. He was on a phone call, but he popped the box open the minute he was done. Now being a man, he immediately opened the advent box to see all the contents. Sigh................. I told him --- put it back in the box and open each window on the day indicated. 

DH's advent calendar

He thoroughly enjoyed the whisky, and now he has something to look forward to each day until Christmas. I think he was happy!

The girls each got an advent calendar, and their reaction was HILARIOUS. 

MOM -- oh yum --- this is great! 

Murphy was a bit more enthusiastic. 

MOM? What's this? What's in the box? 

Oh my gosh -- look at her tongue. I was killing myself laughing!

MOM -- YUM --- this is awesome -- open it NOW!!

So they were also pleased! 

At some point in the day, I got to open my non-quilting advent calendar. 

My advent calendar

You must use the storybook and some clues to know which little door to open each day. Only, the first one is marked, and there's a clue book in case you can't figure out the riddle. 

The "game" board

What else is in the box

OK -- I confess that I looked at the clues. I puzzled over that thing all afternoon and used my encoder to get the answer. I visually figured it out right away; however, my skills at translating that into the decoder failed miserably. So I hope to be better at it today! But I'll look at the clues each day (AFTER I have solved the riddle) to understand the logic! I had the answer but needed to understand how their clue worked! 

So it was a fun day for advent calendars. The fun is still ongoing -- there is one more to arrive, and hopefully, it'll get delivered today. It's not for me, and that's all I will say. 

I swear Lexi thinks we live to cater to her. For the most part, she stays off the sofa only because we put a table in the way. However, she thought she could squeeze her butt into that space. After sitting there looking at me with those baby blues, she realized it wouldn't work to her advantage, so she jumped down. 

Mom -- a little space, please?

Gosh -- I found a brand new set of crayons when I went through the stuff on that shelving unit. How many boxes of crayons does one person need? For the moment, they are with my other crayons, and I'll deal with them later. 

A brand new box of crayons

When going through the bolts of interfacing, I came across a bolt of protective upholstery fabric. Does anyone know someone who does upholstery that can use this? I'll never use it, and I hate for it to go to waste. 

Upholstery protective fabric is up for grabs!

I have many odd types of interfacings. I was at Quilt Market one year, and Pellon gave away all the bolts they had on display as they didn't want to ship them home. So I snuck it onto our crate and brought them home. Some I'll never use -- so this one is up for grabs if you are into upholstering furniture. Obviously, it's black, and there's a lot on the bolt -- it's brand new - still wrapped in cellophane. 

This is the giant quilt I did yesterday. Definitely, a farm theme going on here!

Customer quilt - DONE

It took forever because the pattern is quite intricate. That's a calf head, in case you can't make it out. 

Detail of the quilting

Oh --- here's the cutting table. I switched so much stuff around that I will need help finding something. This is what I'm working on today and my bag of goodies to unpack from recent shopping trips. I aim to keep this clear, except for the day's projects or I need to find fabric for a project. It is NOT a storage area! This is like a temporary parking zone! 

The cutting table with today's projects

Here's this beautiful ball of yarn that I got in the US. I've got a plan for it, but I have one project that needs to be finished first. I'm trying to avoid flitting from one project to another, which will be challenging! 

Ball of yarn

I came across this big tub of striped fabric, which I had a thing for a while back, hence the tub. 

Striped fabrics

More striped fabric

Batik striped fabric

Don't ask! I get on a roll, and can you tell me why I needed every color of that batik stripe? I didn't need it, but boy, I WANTED it! Fabric buying is a sickness; all I can say is, thank goodness, I'm cured!

I have two things without a home. These two containers are filled with rolls of miscellaneous non-fabric stuff. A lot of it came from when I went to craft school and did fabric printing. I could get rid of all that -- there's zero need to keep it. OH wait -- take pictures first and then let it go!!!

Two containers of non-fabric rolled items

The second is the two baskets of clothes that need to be cut down for a memory quilt. I could do that as well, and then what I need to find a home for will be much smaller. I know I said that if things don't have a home, they need to go, but I want to keep these, and I have ONE empty tub that this will all go into nicely. So that will be a job for the next couple of weeks. 

Clothes for a memory quilt

There's still too much stuff, and it's shocking how many small projects I found. Bags and bags of them, so I plan to get one done during the Virtual Retreats, in-person retreats, and Monday sewing. That would be about 4 or 5 a month! It would be great to clear up those things. And most are half finished --- why??? I had an illness for sure, and it's called -- FOMO?? Can't say No? I'm not sure, but I'm cured! 

Could I give the stuff away? I could, but then it'll end up in someone else's house as a mess. My plan is NOT to add to the mess and work away at it. Then I'll have a finished item to give away, which will give me greater satisfaction than something that is not done. 

It's much easier to walk around the stash room now that I have made changes and even added that big shelving unit! So that was a bonus! The quilting machine is still in the box! 

On that note, I've got loads on the agenda today (another giant quilt), sewing, and whatever. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!