Out with the old, in with the new

Thanks to everyone, I have half of the books on my list. Well, I found 11 of 23 books at two used bookstores. The best part is that the two stores recommended had fantastic service. Allison the Bookman in North Bay, received my order, gave me a price, and I paid via transfer. The books are being picked up later today. Fast service. 

I had the same speedy service at Bearly Used Book Store in Parry Sound, and three more books were checked off my list. They got picked up yesterday. All of them will be on The Pony Express shortly. That leaves twelve books on my current search list. I emailed a couple of other stores, but there has been no answer so far. Let's see what happens. I love supporting these small, independent bookstores - that's how the owners make a living and how these OLD books are still available. 

I managed to get more paperwork done, but I had other things to focus on yesterday, and one of them was prepping for the Zoom class in the evening. There is so much to learn, but it's all coming together. 

And what about the weather? The day before yesterday, when I walked to the grocery store, there was an incredible wind, two inches of snow on the ground, and ice pellets blowing in my face. It was a nasty day. 

Yesterday, I walked to the grocery store with bare arms in a short-sleeved T-shirt. By the afternoon, there was no snow! 

A beautiful warm day

The weather has just gone crazy! 

The snow didn't last long yesterday, as the temperature soared to 18 degrees! I got a chuckle as I walked down the street. This was how the snow melted off this van. It literally rolled up into a burrito along the windshield. 

The snow rolled off the roof of the van

With all the precipitation, there are many stories of flooding. How much results from building houses where houses shouldn't be built? I look at the little stream in the forest. This water is channeled into the city drain, but how many others aren't? And there is a lot of water in that supposedly dry stream. 

The stream in the forest

And parts of that creek were flowing pretty fast. At this point, it disappears into a culvert under the path. 

The stream in the forest

Our pond is at a crazy level. If it gets this full, it just leaks out one side, thankfully one away from the house. Yesterday, I decided I needed to remove some of the leaves. I then discovered the liner was bulging, meaning there was water underneath. Let's just hope that is because of the high water levels and not because of a leak in the liner. That would be a costly job to replace. 

Mom - that's a lot of leaves! 

So, instead of working yesterday, I had to do this. 

The canine vacuum

It was time to move that sectional, and of course, Murphy was in there as quick as she could because there were bits of dog food under the sofa. Seriously? How does that happen? And, of course, there were years of dirt, grime, and dog hair. 

But first, I needed to figure out how to get those sections unattached. That was a job that required getting down on the floor and understanding the little mechanisms that attached them. Once I figured it out, it was easy to pull them apart. With all the exercises I've been doing, it was a piece of cake to get down and just as easy to get up! That alone was worth the price of doing stand-up/sit-down! I practically leaped up from the floor with joy! It wasn't quite that easy, but it wasn't a big deal. 

Mom -- there are new things to sniff

Do you notice that a certain someone is in EVERY picture? I swear she is so snoopy, and that's another way that these two girls are so different. When Lexi saw her bed being moved around, she went into her kennel in the living room and stayed there the entire day until I made her go outside. Murphy just had to inspect EVERY detail. 

She even got to test out the sections to see if she would like to sleep there. That couch is so dirty from Lexi and DH. It's filthy, and I rarely use that sofa for that reason. We've also had it for many years.  

Mom - look, I blend in! 

Then, I had the joy of cleaning the floor. Yes, I am capable of doing housework when it's necessary. So, I vacuumed and washed the floor. Other than the bits of dog food, there wasn't much else under there—a lighter? And this—one rusty pin that will go into the dead pin box. 

The only treasure under the couch

And now look at how clean that floor is. It desperately needs to be redone. There is one area where DH sits all the time, and the varnish is completely worn away. I should probably buy a mat, or I should have purchased one long ago because that would have protected the floor. 

The floor is nice and clean

And did the sofa go back? Nope! It is still sitting in the family room, but this came instead. What?

Theatre seating

Yes, I decided that we needed theatre seating instead of a sofa! That was a whim purchase, but that sofa looked messy, and DH spent so much time slouching on it. And I never liked the fact that it was very grubby and unappealing to sit on. The only place I would sit is in the lounge area in the far corner, which wasn't easy to get into and off of. The couch was oversized and hard to move around on, and I didn't like it. So I bought theatre seating. His and hers! And don't sit in my seat! 

Those things fully recline, have lights on the bottom along with lighted cup holders, and plenty of storage in those oversized armrests, so no more crap lying on the sofa. It's all part of downsizing. Those chairs should last a while and are half the size of that large sectional! 

However, there is one problem. What to do about Lexi? So I shoved her couch section beside the chairs so she could still lie next to her Dad! You can just see the edge in the photo above. She would NOT come near it during the day, but when I got up this morning, she was back on HER couch. It looks weird, but I think I'm going to leave it. Otherwise, that space seems pretty empty as there is no other furniture except for the chairs!

I wonder if Murphy wants the other long part tucked in that empty corner? Will she sleep on it? She might if we are in that room watching TV. I don't even watch TV, but if I want to spend time in that room, at least there is a nice, clean spot to sit! I might just read there. If anyone wants to nap, there are beds upstairs, or you can sleep in your fully reclined chair. We only have a loveseat in the living room! I nap in bed - it's way more comfortable, and I set an alarm! It works for me!

So, movie night is planned for Saturday, and then we can test the chairs. I thought we were supposed to get trays with the chairs, but I didn't see any, so I will call and see if we can order them. Then, I could get rid of the ugly TV tray in the room. It's all about cleaning up and making things look more inviting instead of crap!


I just checked online, and yes, there are supposed to be tray tables included, as well as USB chargers in the controls. Yep, the USB charger is there! It's just missing those tray tables!

On that happy note, I'm off to the gym to see Brooke. I finished more paperwork, but I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked, although I made phone calls. Then I have FIVE sessions to prep for this weekend! Did I get any sewing done? No! I forgot to take a picture of what I made with those squares and rectangles, but I still need to think of the value, so I may change what I did. I'll share that tomorrow. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Whatever the weather!!

 I found EIGHT books at the used bookstore in North Bay. And I love that ALL their titles are searchable online. Even better, you can search by author, and whatever they have from that author comes up! It's called Allison the Bookman, and I LOVE the site. I will call today and pay for the books, then they will go on the Pony Express. Yes - Our Pony Express reaches faraway places! Now, I need to update my list, and I have a couple of other bookstores to check out. Oh my -- this is super exciting! 

Oh, I should mention I found 8 of 23, so that's pretty amazing! There will be loads more, but I'll focus on seven authors at the moment. Once those are taken care of, I'll add more to my list. I don't want to have a ton of books hanging around, so I'll focus on a few authors at a time. 

Speaking of reading, I finished a Louise Penny book last night. This is one series that you MUST read in order. The books build on the characters and reading out of order would just be wrong! What is amazing is how Louise manages to tie in the storyline from this book (and all the others) to the previous books. It's an incredible talent and she is definitely a Canadian Treasure! 

She will launch her latest book this fall and has chosen to visit various Canadian cities. I planned on going to Ottawa, but that event sold out in a day! There is an event in Toronto, but I bet it has since sold out. I had the good fortune to meet Louise at a book signing in 2013. There were two hundred people in the audience. She was popular way back then and is even more popular today. 

I am not up to date reading her most current book, and I'm OK with that since it allows me to read Louise Penny whenever I want. There are so many other authors on my list. Let's just say that I did not see the end of this book coming—A Great Reckoning. WOW! Her character development is the best I've ever seen from an author. 

I got a chuckle when I was getting ready for yesterday's walk. I glanced over at Murphy's bed and saw her toy! He kind of looks happy in an upside-down way! 

Topsy-turvy

And yes, there are times when Murphy does go into a deep sleep. Not often, but there are times. I try to tread lightly in those moments, but her sleep is NOT that deep! 

Fast asleep

I ran around the house yesterday, taking pictures for my presentation. That was fun, and there were quilts all over the place. I have a spot upstairs where anything with a sleeve was hung up and photographed. Then I tossed the quilt on the floor. Look who claimed the very first quilt I threw down. Why are animals attracted to quilts? 

Mom - just holding it down so the wind doesn't blow it away

When I tossed the next one, she just lay there! Great - she's too lazy to take the quilt off her head. 

Mom - I'm scared of the storm - I'm OK

When I had to move to the bedroom to take pictures of quilts without sleeves, she was right there—ready to pounce on them. Quilts are like magnets to our pets! 

MOM - I can test that for you! 

This is what the real picture looked like, with my feet on the stool. That's why you can crop photos! So what the audience sees is a nice quilt—they don't get to see everything else in the way. And you have to love our cell phones. I have three lenses on my phone—macro (close-ups), regular, and wide angle. I love and use them all!

The rough photo

I use all those lenses regularly, and there is also a way to change the photo ratio. It's easy to get into the wrong one, and I swear from some of the photos I get for show and tell people do not understand their cameras! I should offer a course on using your phone camera! 

While taking photos of modern quilts, I almost forgot this one at the top of the stairs. It's funny how you pass something every day but then don't actually see it anymore! 

Almost missed this giant wolf quilt

And now this is the mess I have to clean up! I must also try folding my quilts differently, as many have fold lines. They used to lie flat on the bed, but it was a hassle if I needed the bed or one specific quilt. There is no easy way to store quilts. So, I will try that bias folding method and see if that helps. Also, if I donate some of them, there will be fewer to store. I'm going to tackle this pile slowly. A few a day, and that works for me. 

The aftermath of prepping for trunk shows

The presentation went very well, and again, there were great comments from the members, although it's not the same thing when you're on Zoom as in person. So, thanks to the Limestone Quilters Guild for allowing me to share my quilts!

And it sounds like everyone loves my teaching style! When you find a passion - nothing you do seems like work, and teaching/quilting is my passion! Can you tell? 

Yesterday's weather was a bit all over the place. It started snowing in the morning, and it didn't take long before we had this. 

MOM - it's snowing! 

We had about two inches of slushy snow. I decided to walk to the grocery store, as I needed some items I couldn't find the previous day. What is it with bran muffins? Why are they so popular? Yes, I could bake them, but this is my treat! You don't make treats! 

Should I take my usual route along the multi-purpose path or take the shortcut through the forest? It didn't seem so bad when I got outside, so I took the long way. I saw a white vehicle slowly turn into the gas station I was almost at and imagine my surprise when someone shouted my name. What? It was one of the instructors at the gym! She spotted me and wanted to know if I wanted a ride home! WOW -- that's the second time I was offered a ride home this week. 

Nope - I'm OK - just on my way to the grocery store. I bet Maria thought I was a lunatic! But I thanked her and went on my way. 

Then the ice pellets hit me as I turned the corner, and that final block to the store wasn't the most fun I've had on a walk. I got my muffins and headed home, but this time, the snow and ice had turned to rain, which wasn't so fun as I was a bit wet when I got home. I wasn't that wet, but enough that after 20 minutes, I changed my pants and socks. Of course, I did NOT wear boots! 

It wasn't that bad, and we must stop fearing the weather! It's here to stay; we must learn to live with it! 

As I took the shortcut through the forest on my way home, I immediately spotted a bright light approaching me. OH—a motorized vehicle that shouldn't be in the forest. WAIT—the owner was walking his bike home. I guess the roads were too slippery, or he didn't feel comfortable, so he had the bike on to help him push it home. I hope he didn't have too much farther to go! That happened to me many years ago in Montreal. I started out driving the motorcycle, and the roads were great. But it had snowed during the day. That was an intense drive! 

Snow in the forest

It didn't snow much while I was gone, as I could still see my tracks from when I left the house. You can see how wet it was. But it really wasn't bad. My feet got wet when I crossed the street, and they weren't wet; they were just damp. I'm going to make a great grandma - I can see M rolling her eyes at the thought of me taking her kids for a walk in the rain without boots! Bring on the mud puddles - we've got some splashing to do! Maybe that's why she lives at the other end of the country from me! And she doesn't have any kids yet! 

Not enough snow to cover my tracks

The other day, while prepping for the scrap quilt lecture, I saw these containers of shapes I had cut from my brown scrap boxes. 

There are actually several containers. One contains 2½" by 4½" pieces, and I know what those are for. There is one with 2½" squares, and I don't have a plan per se. Then there are 2" squares and 2" by 5" pieces, which were to go together to make something, but what? I couldn't remember. Well, I remembered when I was on the walk yesterday!

Boxes of brown scraps

As I was sewing this morning, I made one block. Hmm—I need to pause and think about value before I continue. Can you imagine what I did with 2" squares and 2" by 5" rectangles? You have until tomorrow morning to figure it out! 

And seriously! What is with our dishwasher? This is becoming very common, and I'm tired of fixing it. It might be time for a new dishwasher, but it works just FINE until it gets F11. Most of the time, I cannot find anything that clogged the drain, which is very frustrating. 

F11 - again! 

I have one more class this evening, and then there are four other evening classes for the rest of the month, two of which are makeups for March! That is amazing! And that means we can get back to our EXIT Games!! Yeah!!

I've got some paperwork to get accomplished - I'm looking for quilts for the Concurrent show at Quilt Canada. I'll be taking a recap of where I am this morning and then posting what I'm missing. OH - and I have one more overdue follow-up, but after that, I think I'm caught up on the daily paperwork. How can that be? I must be missing something!! Wouldn't it be nice if it was all done by the end of today? It should all be done by the end of the week! 

And on that happy note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

The great quilt sort

 Oh, I see I have two leads on used bookstores. I'll check those out later today. Thanks!!! 

Although it's Wednesday, I did NOT go to spin class. I was out late last night, and even though I woke up at the same time, I decided to continue sleeping. And now I'm up—obviously! 

I spoke at the Quilting Corners Quilt Guild in Alliston last night, and the topic was scrap quilts. What a fantastic guild! They produce a lot of quilts, they have a very active community quilt program, and when some work needed to be done to finish those quilts, all the quilts disappeared within seconds into the hands of someone who would finish them and bring them back next month. 

It's a small but very active and mighty guild! I was very impressed. And OH MY—I knew a few guild members and didn't even know it! I got to meet Sally from my Zoom classes. I had dinner with Liz, who used to be in many of my in-person classes (thank you, Liz; it was great to catch up!). I saw Susan and Sandra from other guilds that I belonged to in this area. Wow—it was like homecoming week!

I want to thank ALL the guild members for their fantastic welcome. I've never received so much positive feedback on my quilts, speaking ability, and presentation. I said THANK YOU many times last night! Thanks again to the Quilting Corners Quilt Guild for a wonderful evening. They have a quilt show coming in June 2025. I'm unsure of the date; I'll try to find that out. 

Now, it took a little bit of work to pull that presentation off. The last time I presented the scrap quilt lecture was on Zoom. So as not to forget any quilts, I opened the presentation, and one by one, I pulled them and loaded them in the suitcases. HA!! Can you really take 75 slides and pop them in two suitcases? I think not! There were NOT 75 quilts - some of the pictures were close-ups! 

I ended up with two large suitcases and three large tote bags. Some of the quilts in the presentation are no longer with me, so there could have been more! But that's OK. 

My scrap quilt presentation

But to get all those quilts together, I had to go through all my quilts to find the appropriate ones, resulting in the great quilt sort. Not only did I have to pull for the scrap quilt lecture, but I have another lecture tonight (Zoom) with the Limestone Quilters in Kingston. That topic is Modern Quilts, and well, I have to pull those as I do not have a presentation for Modern Quilts. 

The great quilt sort

Thankfully all the quilts are stored in the spare bedroom, so it wasn't hard to find them. I LOVE having that metal shelf to store the quilts. Well worth the $100. I created piles for each topic and then carried the scrap quilts downstairs to load in the suitcases and others I left upstairs, and I'll deal with them today. I probably have pictures of some of them. I must search for the modern quilt folder today, and others will require photos and then be placed in the presentation. I see lots of physical action today as I sort, refold, and put the quilts back on the shelf! 

But I also found a lost sample. I could not find this darn cushion cover, and imagine my surprise when I moved a quilt and found it there. Now, why is a cushion sample on my shelf of quilts? Only I could have put it there. There is no one else in the house to blame! I even asked my colleagues in the event the item got mixed up with their samples!

My lost cushion cover! 

I'll deal with the "mess" another day. Now that I'm finished with the other presentations, I need to sort and tidy up anyway, as many quilts were thrown in a pile on the bed. Now, they can be sorted into the appropriate categories and put away. As I do that, I need to identify those that will never be chosen for a trunk show and those will go in the giveaway pile. I did that with some of the quilts but never the entire collection. 

I'll do one shelf at a time as it's a LOT of work to refold all the quilts and put them away. 

When I got home last night, I had to unload the car and bring everything into the house. I remember coming home from a trunk show and leaving everything in the car. I also think I left the car unlocked, and that night, someone decided to check out what was in the suitcases. The next day, they were partially opened in the back of the car. Thankfully, nothing was stolen - I was so lucky. If the person had dug deep, there was a couple hundred dollars in one from selling my Tech Tip book. And they could have taken the suitcases! Although if they were on foot, they wouldn't have gotten far quickly. So I always unload the car now and make sure the doors are locked. 

I did sit outside for a bit in the afternoon, as it was a nice day, although a bit chilly. The girls didn't care—they just love it when Mom is outside. 

MOM -- I LOVE you!!!

Murphy - sitting in the dirt

I got a chuckle at the church when the meetings are held. I found this in the washroom! This is what you will need if you don't do those stand-up/sit-down exercises!!! Those exercises make a difference! They really do, so be sure to get doing them. And try to push up with both feet. I have a tendency to use my right foot first when getting up! 

Assistance in the washroom!

There is a lot on the agenda today—I've got a couple of challenge quilts to work on, my homework stuff for the weekend classes, a jacket to make, more writing to do, quilts to quilt, a presentation to assemble, and some paperwork! Remember, this is a full-time job for me; it's way past the point of being a hobby! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Tracking

Most things we buy online or send have a means of tracking them. I recently bought two large items online (CDN store, which was the only way I could purchase the items). OK, one of the items I could have bought in the store, but I didn't. 

Well, I've been watching the tracking numbers. For one item, I was contacted by phone yesterday, and we agreed to have the item delivered tomorrow. There was no online confirmation, and I was going to get in touch yesterday, but they touched base with me. 

The second item has been sitting in limbo with a note saying they were waiting for UPS to pick it up so it could be shipped. I know this item is available locally, but it's being shipped from BC. I just saw a change in the notification system this morning. What do I know about this stuff? As long as it comes, that's all I care about. But that seems like a lot of shipping for something I could have driven 10 minutes away and bought! 

Then, I sent that box on Friday, which was scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. Nope—it's going to be delivered TODAY. That one went from here to BC, costing $22 for a jam-packed box of odds and ends. That's a pretty good deal. Thank you, Canada Post. You have my vote for shipping things, and I have another box to send today and will start prepping yet another box. I like sending things! 

It would appear that the saying, "April showers bring May flowers," is true because we are going to get a lot of rain in the next week. I'm OK with that - I have an umbrella to keep walking outside. 

OK—after Monday's sewing, I had no choice but to sit down and finish reading The Sequel. And all I will say is, "Oh, I did not see that coming." I will not say more except that the author has a very twisted mind. 

But then I'm listening to a Louise Penny novel and nearing the end of it, and it's also twisted! What is it with women authors? I would NOT be able to write a book like this—my brain is NOT that twisted!

While searching for some missing books in a series, I stumbled upon another series—I felt like I needed to add another author to my list! I'm reading Murder in Marais. Cara Black is the author, the series is set in Paris, France, and Aimée Leduc is the detective. 

I finished my last presentation last night, which felt great, but it was later in the evening, so I just left everything and will clean up today. Some of the quilts have been put away, but I have an in-person presentation tonight, so I must dig physical quilts out and pack them in a suitcase. The quilts from last night and the ones I need tonight have no cross-over, so a great quilt shuffle will happen. 

Last night, it was all about machine embroidery on quilts; tonight, it's about scrap quilts (Quilting Corners Guild - Alliston); tomorrow (Zoom meeting for a guild - Limestone Quilters - Kingston) is about modern quilts! I do NOT have a presentation for modern quilts, so guess what I'll be doing as I pull quilts for tonight. I must pull the modern quilts as well. Oh, what fun it's going to be, and then when this week is over, I'll have all the quilts to put back on the shelves. But that needed to happen anyway. 

Speaking of tidying up, look at that cutting table.  

There is room to cut on the cutting table

Oh my—the one mat is clear, and there are a few things on the right-hand side that must be dealt with, but I'll keep plugging away. I'm trying to work as fast as possible, but you know how it is. Everything takes much longer than initially planned. 

Let's just say that despite reading for a bit in the afternoon, I'm making significant progress on clearing up some sewing projects, and I have this to show you. It's my ender/leader project. 

The ender/leader braid

I'm trying to be careful that it doesn't get a wobble. I'll check it when I return to work today, but I think it's just how I threw it on the floor to get the picture. There were a couple of light prints in there, and I've just added them. I'm not worrying about that - it's a scrap quilt, after all! 

When I was pressing the seams, I could tell that there were a few polyester pieces. How can you tell? The SMELL gives it away every time. Cotton doesn't smell (or shouldn't) when you iron it. Polyester has a plastic smell when heated. That's a hard one to describe, but it smells. I didn't care. The pieces are small; it's a scrap quilt, and so the polyester stays. 

I should take a picture of the box of pre-cut pieces. How far will I get with that? Will I have to cut more? I bet I will. I'm debating whether to start a new braid or should I continue until this one is the correct length? I should determine how wide the braid is and how many braids I need. Maybe I'll take a few minutes later today and figure that out. Then I could start a new one, just for fun! I could always put a sashing strip between the columns if I don't have enough pieces. Lots of options. 

I need to get back to focusing on the books on my shelf to read. There are two shelves of books in various series, and since I like to read them in order, I will focus on tracking down those I'm missing. Some of them were written in the 1960s! I know! There is a good used bookstore in Orangeville, and there used to be an excellent one in Chatham. I'm not sure it's still there. Any others? I know I could Google the books and buy them online, but I want to visit the bookstore - that's part of the adventure! 

I spotted one in Burlington, which is reasonably close to me. Well, I'll check everything out and see what I can find! Does anyone have some old Wexford series by Ruth Rendell? 

I have a bit of paperwork that must be done today—actually, I just need to keep plugging away at it, and it will soon disappear. Then, I can dig into the "archives." That desktop needs to be cleared up! I will make this happen! 

On that note, I'm off to see what I can accomplish today!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!