Going for Olympic gold in productivity

 A fairy ring! That's a terrific concept to explain the circle of fungi I spotted. It wasn't on my lawn - it was on the property line separating two front lawns on a different street. I took a closer look and OH MY --- what clusters of fungi!

Here's a better picture of the fungi. OH MY!!! It's almost a perfect circle!!

The fairy ring

And look how dense the fungi are!!!! That's pretty incredible. I've never seen anything like it before. I walk past those two houses every day and only noticed this now! 

Clusters of fungi

Do you know why this phenomenon occurs? According to the internet, this started with a central fungus. Once it depletes the nutrients in its area, it sends out feelers to find more, and apparently, it sends those feelers out in a circle. Once it finds nutrients, the fungi grow!! You can read more about it at this link. 

Oh my -- talk about Prioritize - Focus - Win -- I think I just won an Olympic Medal in that category. This is what happened yesterday. 

First, let's talk about the binding box. I decided to split the bindings into approximate color groupings. And I decided to give them a quick press, at least those that needed it. 

The binding bits are sorted by color

And then they got tucked back into the box in an orderly fashion. Amazing how much more room there is when things are neat and tidy. The box was put back on the shelf in its designated space. OK, so I removed a few pieces, which helped everything fit! 

Much neater!

But not before I removed some pieces of binding to use on the dog quilts. More on this in a minute.

Binding bits removed for the dog quilts

Speaking of the dog quilts, let's have a peek at what happened to them yesterday. The last one was removed from the long arm. In its place is a customer quilt, loaded and ready to be stitched later today. 

The eighth dog quilt - DONE!

This last quilt is now trimmed and ready for the binding to be applied. This is the small stack left over from all the quilt backings. There isn't much there, but still a lot of fabric. I thought I did a pretty good calculation, considering I quilted eight quilts. 

All that remains from eight quilt backings

This got added to the other scraps of dog fabric that were left over from making the eight tops. I've put the bag into my retreat bag, and it's the perfect thing to do at retreat. I have MANY of those types of scrap bags. And I bet I could get at least ONE more quilt from this scrap bag. 

The scraps from making eight lap-sized quilts

All this talk of scraps makes me think of the scrap session I plan to host. I know some of you already sent me emails, but I'm not ready, so hold on! I now have this on my "to-do" list, and although it likely won't get booked this morning, it's on the list, and I hope to complete the list by the end of next week. So watch for those details. 

And now back to the dog quilts. I've got the binding on the back, ready to applique it to the front on five of the eight quilts. Yes, that is always the most challenging part because one has to make the bindings. Well, I haven't had to make any bindings yet - I just needed to join the pieces, trim, and press that seam open. That is amazing! 

The binding is half completed on FIVE quilts

Two of them have brown binding, and three have black binding. In that small grouping on the ironing board you saw above, there is enough to complete most of a fourth black binding. I may need to cut a couple of extra strips, and one will have red binding, while the last one will have green. 

Three quilts still to stitch the binding on

Oh my goodness -- that is so exciting. And all the other binding bits in the box? They will be used on some of the scrappy quilts that I have to quilt, but that won't be until next year. The quilts I'm doing a favor for do not require binding (thank goodness), and the ones I want to do are flannel, and I will have to make the binding for those. But in groups of FOUR!!! 

I did some preparatory work for the upcoming classes this coming weekend. There are two classes and both require a lot of prep work, so I need to get started NOW. And there's the UFO club, but I think I'm good for that. Thank goodness! Not having as many classes to prep for is making a HUGE difference in my schedule. 

The cutting table is a bit congested this morning. I put all the dog quilts back on it, but I have some items to take pictures of, the dog quilts, and other things. I don't need to cut anything today, so all that is staying on the cutting table. The bottom line is that it's all current projects that need to be addressed this week. 

The cutting table is congested! 

Instead of going for a walk yesterday, I decided to finish tidying up the backyard. All the furniture is put away, and the hoses are drained and put away. I had to sweep the decks of all the leaves. I was going to use my leaf blower, but a part seems to be missing. Great! I wasn't going to go through the shed to find it. I was actually going to go and buy a new one when DH came home and said he would call the garden guy. The weather isn't going to be great this week, so now the leaves will hang out in the backyard! I should have gotten a new leaf blower. WAIT --- I should get one when they go on sale, since I bet they'll be on sale soon. 

Of course, I had help! 

MOM - Can I play in the leaves?

I wonder if Murphy would like me to pile up those leaves for her to play in? 

MOM - just checking in the forest

And at one point, I found her in this little garden. She seems to think that spot is just for her, but lilies are trying to grow there! I also removed more leaves from the pond, and I don't think I can remove any more without potentially disturbing the fish. I'm not happy with the quantity of bubbles from the bubbler, so I may try to clear the tube again or just get a new one. 

MOM - I LOVE this spot

Here is a much better picture of Murphy after her haircut! She is just one big goof!!! She looks like a lioness! 

MOM - I'm beautiful!

HOWEVER, I must remind myself of the importance of keeping her groomed. After we tromped through the forest, she didn't have a single leaf attached to her. Usually, we have to stop and I deleaf her!!

MOM - look at me - no leaves! 

WAIT -- who has leaves stuck to them? I had a leaf on my shoe! Oh, what a farce!!!!

Great - I have a leaf stuck to my shoe

I was able to watch a couple more videos in this educational series. There are 96 in total, and they don't seem to be in any particular order, which is unusual. It doesn't matter; I'm learning things and confirming things that I already know. I'm good with that. Sometimes, we just need that confirmation to make us feel good! 

But here's an essential tip I learned from watching a different video the other day. 

I'll share the link to the videos with you. The videos are from SewingMastery.com. Sara, a dealer in South Dakota, has taken on the task of creating videos showcasing the products she sells. I'm sure this is in the hope that people will watch the videos and get the answers to some of the questions they may have about their new sewing machine. She has videos for Husqvarna Viking, PFAFF, Singer, and Bernina. You'll see the brands at the top right of the main page.

For instance, if you own one of these Husqvarna Viking Embroidery Machines, there is a whole set of videos available for you to watch about your embroidery machine. Trust me — there is excellent information here, and if you haven't watched them, you are missing out on a lot of learning! Each machine has a hyperlink to a list of videos. Check out your machine!!!

And if you only have a sewing machine, guess what? She also created videos for those. Here is the list. 

And let's say you have a Husqvarna Viking serger - yep -- there's a list for those machines as well. 

All of the above are FREE. And if you check the homepage, you can find the links to the Bernina, Singer, and PFAFF videos. They are also on YouTube. Again, these are free, and if you are not watching them, you should be! Not only does she discuss the machine, but she also provides tips on needles, threads, and threading, stabilizers, and many more. You NEED to watch these videos. You will not retain all the information, but hopefully, you'll know your way around her website, so that when you want to know something, you'll be able to find it there. 

And if there is a tool on your machine that you haven't used in a long time, or just don't understand, like positioning, guess what? She has videos for that! Not sure what the applique tool is? Color sort? There are videos for all of that. 

For those of you who said you are visual learners -- guess what? Instead of reading the User's Guide, watch these videos. AHA -- no excuses now! I've been doing this for over 25 years. I'm still learning loads!!! Every day and from every source!

Additionally, she offers some courses that you can pay for, which will enhance your learning experience. I'm tempted to sign up for one - just for fun! 

Now, here's the interesting note that Sara made in one of her videos from the Bootcamp class. There are some free videos, and I've been watching them as well. 

As a dealer, she receives numerous emails with questions from people, likely including her customers and others. Often, the emails arrive late at night or during hours when they are not open. And usually, the customer is frustrated and needs to get their machine up and running again. It may take one to two days for the store to respond. Sometimes, Sara said that they don't know the answer and have to research it. 

OK -- so what should you do in the future? Have you ever considered asking Google or any other AI generator the same question? You would be surprised what Google (Meta AI) can come up with for an answer. In mere seconds, it scans its databases and presents an answer. And guess what? That answer is pretty darn accurate. It doesn't pull from one source - it pulls from many. 

Take, for instance, the circle of fungi. I didn't know it was called a Fairy Ring. So let's see what happens when I type this into the Google search: "What is a circle of fungi called/"  And this is what I get back. 

If that link didn't work because it was long, type in that sentence yourself. And I type it right into the top box where the URL goes.

We NEED to become more self-sufficient. I like to ask questions here because I know you are all so smart, but I could look (and often do) for the answers myself. Or I explore the topic in much greater detail, which is why there are usually 20+ windows open on my computer. No, the new one is still in the box, and I need to get it out this week. Remember that you can also conduct a Google Image search. 

The next time you have a question about your sewing machine, quilting, or anything else, try typing the question into Google or another AI platform and see what you get. You'd be surprised! 

Hey -- I was all done and reading my book by 7 PM yesterday! Yep -- I'm on a roll! 

It's going to be another jam-packed day, and I woke up super excited to get started!!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!