Yep -I'm deleting from SENT and then emptying the TRASH folder. I don't have time to deal with it today, but I'm happy knowing that I've found a good part of the culprit. However, I'm still a long way from cleaning up that email. I'll do a little bit each day! If I were to add up all those "little bits" each day, I'd need a long, long day!
But all is good! You can't sweat the stuff you can't deal with that day. Just tuck it in the back of your mind and know that it will get done. Even more important is knowing how to fix the problem. Let's hope I can stay on top of it and it won't become an issue in the future.
There is still loads of stuff on the computers, hard disks, USBs, and external drives that I need to delete! But I'll get there.
And does anyone go into their smart devices and clean out chat streams? Yep -- that's another area that can quickly take up space on your phone! I do it occasionally, but I could improve at it. This is a huge problem -- we are inundated with so much crap that there's not much time to deal with keeping those areas clean!
Well, one area in my life that is super clean is the car! It's not because we have a new vehicle; I've always been like this. I arrive home, and I empty the car of EVERYTHING, especially my garbage. How hard is that? A wrapper, a drink cup? Grab it and trash it! I've always wondered why people keep a ton of stuff in their cars. Anyway, I digress.
I arrived home about 5 p.m. yesterday, and I was quite happy to be home! I'm now home, except for a one-day meeting for almost two weeks! Yeah!!
However, I didn't get anything done last night. I was tired, so I started reading a book, and the rest is history!
This morning, I got up and went to Studio B, but I almost turned around and went back to bed. Why?
It's like a debris field in there.
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| The debris field that is called Studio B |
And the area around the long arm isn't much better.
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| A second debris field |
The place has been worse, but this is getting pretty bad. While I brought the suitcases (3 huge ones) into the house yesterday, they are still parked in the hallway. I unpack them a bit at a time since the quilts are heavy and need to be put away.
I have work to finish today as I have three sessions over the weekend, and the show must go on. So I started with the cutting table, which wasn't in bad shape, considering what the floor looked like.
AH -- A while back, I spoke about the Peaky and Spike unit in the quilt world. This was named because of Doreen Speckman. And at some point, Marti Michell made a ruler in honor of Doreen and this unit.
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| Peaky and Spike template |
There's only one problem with this template - it makes ONE SIZE!!
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| The templates only make a 5" finished unit |
Deb Tucker has released many rulers; her version for this unit is called the V Block. I chuckle when I say that because so many rulers do the same thing, but everyone thinks their spin on it is best.
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| The V Block ruler |
However, I think the Tri-Recs Ruler, which has been around for eons, is the BEST ruler for making this unit. It's versatile—you can make units from 1" to 6" finished (or something like that). There is NO NEED to trim the unit down when you've sewn it together, so it takes less time, and there is ZERO waste.
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| The Tri-Recs ruler |
That sounds like an oxymoron statement coming from me - -someone who makes their HSTs slightly larger and trims them down. But I'm also an old dog, and teaching me new tricks is tough!
Anyway, I LOVE my Tri-Recs ruler, and that's what I'll use for any of these units I need to sew. To me, they are called Peaky and Spike!!! Thank you, Doreen, for that cute name!
Oh gosh -- if I look a bit closer, there is more stuff on the floor.
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| More stuff to deal with |
OH, do you remember me saying I couldn't find my metal bias bars a week ago? That's because I was trying to be very proactive in prepping for my applique classes, and I stuck them in the box with the patterns I was working on. DUH!!!!
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| Found the bias bars! |
The missing bias bars. I've moved them back to the box where they belong, and I guess it shows that I am NOT good at being proactive because I don't remember pulling them out. So, in the future, things must stay in their original spot!
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| The missing bias bars |
I found a bag of thread that I bought a while back that had yet to be put away. I emptied the bag onto the cutting table.
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| Brand new thread, which was homeless |
And while I was sorting, I found two more mini stashes of new thread that had yet to be put away. Sigh.....
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| More homeless thread |
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| More homeless thread |
I find the best way to organize things is by color, as that's how I usually need them. Well, my threads are sorted by category first and then color. These are my boxes of embroidery thread, and the three stashes of recently purchased thread were all for machine embroidery.
So, I pulled out the appropriate colored box. Hmm, there is not much room in this one.
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| Oranges and yellows |
And only a little room in this one, too.
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| Blue embroidery thread |
Now I have an overflow bag, which I'm not fond of. I could separate the oranges and the yellows into separate boxes and sort the blues by teal and blue.
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| A bag of homeless embroidery thread |
But my embroidery thread cupboard is already full, and technically, I could fill a second unit. The question would be, where do I put it? NO MORE buying thread!
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| My embroidery thread cabinet |
I was cleaning something out in the storage room the other day- more on that story another day. And I found this mat smoother. Hmmm -- unopened, so I'll try it later today. I wonder if it'll be good to clean some of the debris off the mat or if this is just another expensive gimmick I fell for? But I chuckle as I see this -- I met a lady the other day who has a small mat that she used for quilt classes. The mat was FORTY years old, and the front of it was pretty scarred. The back was flawless, so I suggested she use the back!!!
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| A mat smoother |
These are the background fabrics for my Green Tea and Sweet Beans. Since the quilt top is done, I guess I can put these away. So the whites are in the white bucket, the grays are in the gray bucket, and the scraps are in the appropriate spot.
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| The backgrounds for Green Tea and Sweet Beans |
I trimmed some half-square triangles sewn in the last month, and they were put away.
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| Trimming half-square triangles |
While rummaging in the storage room a while back, I spotted a box of solids. Hmm --- I could probably put those with the other solids. So, I opened it up this morning. ACK -- why do I do this to myself?
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| Stuff I found in the box of solids |
I found two patterns in the box, containing leftover fabrics from the Gravity quilt or leftovers from Amish with a Twist. I also found the MINI Hex ruler by JayBird and some half-hexes that were already cut. CRAP --- I can't just leave those half hexes, so I'll sew them together to make the little quilt on the left. WAIT --- I can sew them as enders and leaders. But first, I need to be sewing to use them!
Well, it's always an entertaining day when I decide to tidy up, but I'm glad what I did. While it still is a disaster, I cleared off the one table where I need to do some work. I dug out the fabrics for the two projects that need to be prepped for tomorrow, and I'm going to focus on that one table only today! So all is good, but then I need to get that place whipped back into shape at some point.
As I mentioned, walking in there this morning was not encouraging, and that is NOT a good thing.
So -- yes, there is a Virtual Retreat this weekend. Here are the links.
Saturday - April 27 - starting at 6 PM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89816483795?pwd=Mjc3M3pvVmZPdjdsQzlHS3Zhck52dz09
Meeting ID: 898 1648 3795
Passcode: 248667
Sunday, April 28 - starting at NOON
My computer only has THREE windows open this morning. WAIT—that's my Google Browser. One of them is the blog, one is my calendar, and the third is something I want to share with the Monday Sewing group. So I'm doing well!
I'm going to try to keep things clear on this computer. I doubt that will last long, but there's always hope!
On that note, I'm out of here. The girls (no boy - sigh -- I miss him, but it's amazing how quickly we fell back into our routine, although it's been chaos this week) are waiting for their walk, which they did NOT get yesterday and were pretty miffed about it.
Have a great day!!!
Ciao!!!
Yes, I keep my phone clean too. Close up all the tabs on google manually on a regular basis. Go through text conversations every few days-I do review what was said in case I should retain "the knowledge".
ReplyDeleteYou're getting there! Once you're done, maintenance practice is easy with a routine of weekly or monthly, whichever serves you best.