Murphy helps to declutter

As much as it was nice to be away and sew with friends, it's nice to be home and get back into the routine! 

The Zooms went well, and there was lots of great show-and-tell, some of which I'll share later this week. Then, it was back to cleaning up the stuff. 

I still had all this that needed to be put away. Again, it was slow and methodical. It's not enough to just shove it on a shelf. A lot of stuff needs to be dealt with, and if I don't do it properly, I'll be in trouble. I managed to get through one bag and will work on the rest this week. 

Stuff from the retreat to deal with

You're saying, "Why not just put it away?" I can't because I'm prepping the stuff that will go back to the retreat, and I need to deal with the stuff PROPERLY that will never go back. What does that mean? Well, have a look. 

Take the black-and-white split nine patch, for instance. I need more fabric. Most of my black-and-white fabric has been pulled for Dear Jen, but I knew some fabrics were still in the basket. Look what I found! This is a striped fabric (2½") printed this way. Since I'm using 2½" strips, this is PERFECT for this project. 

A preprinted striped black and white fabric

I didn't bother cutting it, as it's easy enough to do at the retreat. The next retreat is at the same place with loads of room to cut. I know I'm short on the darker fabrics, so I cut two strips from the darker fabrics I found in the basket. 

As I cut for Dear Jen, I'll cut a 2½" strip from each and throw it in the bag. Having a plan helps me get this stuff done!

Then, I grabbed the paper-pieced kit, laid them out, and sorted the fabrics. 

The paper-pieced kits

Everything got put away in its proper place. And I won't ever have to worry about that again! This takes little time and isn't rocket science to figure out! Bit by bit, I'm saving myself a HUGE amount of time one day!

At lunch, I started reading another storage magazine; at least in this one, they talk about dealing with clutter. I laughed when I read this question in their Q&A section. Hopefully, you can read the last sentence! They have NO IDEA!!! 

And the rest of the retreat bag was dealt with similarly - slow, methodical, and THOROUGH. 

The weather is a bit weird—we had some snow last week, but the temperature has climbed. Even though it was 4 degrees when I walked the girls, there were icy patches, so I was careful. I was overly cautious, as most of what I thought was ice was just wet, but I wasn't taking any chances. 

First, however, these shoes went in the garbage. 

Bye-bye favorite shoes

I have another pair sitting at the door, and they technically need to be in the garbage as well, but I haven't had a chance. OK - that's so lame! The tread on them is much better, so I'm wearing those while I wait for my new ones to arrive. I might keep these for the really snowy or crap weather days. The tread is OK on them. 

Temporary shoes

Yes, I need to change my running shoes every three months with all the walking I do. Remember that I almost always (99.9%) wear the SAME shoe (running shoes)—they're my go-to shoes. I rarely wear boots, so changing the running shoes often is a must. YES -- even if the tread looks OK, the insides break down and no longer provide support. I'm sure most of you do NOT walk 350 KM in one month, so you don't need to change as often as I do. I have no one to blame except myself for that debacle last week with the fall. I'm happy to report that my neck is almost back to normal. 

Oh, then I had to deal with the I Spy stuff. The yardage and extra squares went with my boxes of I Spy fabric. The quilt went in the to-be-quilted pile, and the smaller bits went into this labeled drawer with the rest of my I Spy scraps. 

I Spy scraps

Then, I did something LONG OVERDUE. Instead of putting my sewing machine away, I cleaned it! 

Cleaning the sewing machine

This is the ONLY sewing machine I own, so I need to take better care of it. Yes - I have the use of the other machines and tend to use those instead of this one. But this is my travel machine, and I love it! I cleaned it and put in a new needle. I also restocked my supply box with thread and wound bobbins! It's ready to go for the next retreat. 

I also wrote myself a note and put it with the sewing machine to remind myself when all this was done because, in a couple of months, I will not remember. 

There was so much dust and lint in and under the accessory tray. It looks much better now, but it desperately needs servicing. Even if you don't use your machines often, they need to go in for regular servicing because they need to be oiled. The oil and grease can gunk up inside from lack of use, and it's NOT good for your machine to sit. That's why I sold all the other ones I wasn't using. I didn't want to maintain them if I wasn't using them. 

I got a community project quilt done. 

Community project quilt - DONE

It's trimmed, and I need to start putting those bindings on! There are ten or eleven now, and the pile is getting higher! 

I popped into the library, and OH MY—we have new machines for checking out books. The setup is the same as the old system, but this is contained in one unit! It's super easy to use, except for remembering the PIN number, which is part of your phone number. And I was getting books for DH. Do I remember his number? Nope!!! I had to look it up!

The check-out process at the library

I should not have done it, but I found three books at the library for me! So I carried those home. Two should be a quick browse—you do not need to read the entire book—just the section that interests me now! 

I also stopped at the thrift store, and I scored!!! I found this in the bedding section. 

A felt linen storage bag

It's about twenty inches square and made of lightweight felt. It looks like a linen storage bag and will be PERFECT for storing my small quilts. I'm pretty excited to put them in this. I have something similar, but it's rectangular and not as large. I've been looking for something exactly like this for a while. 

I also spotted two other storage bags with clear vinyl on one side. 

Two more storage bags

They will be suitable for table runners. Whatever I don't use, I'll donate back! 

They have a handle, but I don't think they would be strong enough to carry by the handle. I don't care; I just want the bag for storage. I need to tackle that this week, along with many other things. I'm good if the bags sit on the floor in the closet. 

I swear I took a picture of the EXIT Game Advent Calendar but did not. Suffice it to say that we finally dug it out last night and successfully solved the first puzzle without looking at the clues. DH and I came up with the solution on our own. We work so well as a team - he found one part, and I found another! He wanted to do more, but I said we need to savor this game, and if we're done by the end of January, I'll be happy. Good grief -- too much excitement in one day! My brain is good for one puzzle a day! 

We have Murphy and Lexi, and they take up a lot of space in our house. Not just their presence, but their stuff! We have Lexi's kennel, Murphy's window bed, a dog bed under a table, and a set of blankets on the floor in another corner. All that's in the living room. Then there's a dog bed in the office and one in the family room. Do they need them all? Probably not, but Lexi used to sleep in the dog beds before she was allowed on the couch. Now, she's a princess. 

In the afternoon, when I was having my snack at the kitchen table, Murphy was chomping on her bacon-flavored broccoli toy in the bed that's in the family room. 

Mom - I LOVE my new toy! 

Then she decided that the bed needed to be moved. 

MOM - I get a better view over here

Then she moved it again. 

MOM - this is better - I can watch TV and chew

The next thing we knew, she attacked the bed and started to rip the foam inside it! She pulled the foam out in bits and left them on the bed. Then she shook the bed, and there was foam everywhere! 

MOM -- this bed has to go! I'm done with it! 

It was hilarious, and instead of scolding her, I took pictures and sent videos to Mr. Bear. The bed belonged to Sammy, a much smaller dog. While Murphy and Lexi could snug into it, it was too small and very old. It needed to be tossed. 

Thanks to Murphy, that bed is gone. Will it be replaced? Absolutely not! I moved the set of blankets from the living room into that same spot, and all is good! 

Well, it's time to get to spin class. I'm going to try this morning and see how it goes. It may or may not work out. The pain is not so much fun in the morning, but things seem to settle down somewhat after the morning walk. The pain doesn't go away, but it's much less. Let's say the pain is tolerable, but I have to be on a plane next week, and I have no idea how I'm going to manage that. It's a three-hour flight, and I can envision myself lying in the aisle with a pillow under my leg. Let's pray that I get an upgrade, or I'll be taking a stick with me to chomp down on, like in the old days when they had no anesthetic when they did surgery!

I'll be putting a review of my 2025 class offerings on the blog later this week, as well as the Virtual Retreats planned for December. I'm going to have something around Christmas Day because many people have no plans, so why don't we all sew or just chat? It makes it a lot less lonely for those missing family!

I haven't harassed you in a while, but do NOT forget to keep at the decluttering. Drawers, papers, doors, countertops—every place has clutter! I know—I've been there and am still there. Keep at it—you are going to be amazed at the sense of peace that you'll achieve. I LOVE it! 

On that happy note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!