SCAM!!!

Something very bizarre happened yesterday, and it sure gave me pause for thought. We only have one home phone, which sits in the living room. We do hear it ring, but never answer it. There is an answering machine attached to it, and I check it from time to time. It's mostly junk if there are any messages at all. I heard the phone ring and the announcement that it was Bell calling. I had heard this the day before, so I was wondering if they were trying to contact me. 

I thought I had better try to catch it in case there was something important. However, as I was walking away with the phone in my hand because I needed to make a call, it rang. I looked at the number and OH MY --- it's my parents. It has to be monumental news for them to call. They never call. 

It was my Mom, and the first thing she asked was, "Did M just call you?" Well, I had just heard the phone ring, although it wasn't my cell phone, and I doubt that M even remembers that we still have a home phone. Apparently, Mom got a call from a weeping granddaughter, saying she was in an accident, was now in jail, and needed bail money. It does make you think, but seriously ---- if you were in an accident, it would have to be very bad and your fault to end up in jail, not in the hospital! Plus, if it were that bad, wouldn't you need a lawyer? The whole story is just so bogus!

I assured Mom that it was likely a scam. Instead of just hanging up, though, she said, "Why don't you call your mom?" And then the girl hung up on her. So no money parted hands - my Mom wouldn't have the first clue how to access their money anyway! But the sad thing is that someone might fall for it and pay. You just wonder how the victim would transition from sobbing to helping the grandparent send them money. 

Thankfully, we have drilled into their heads not to deal with those calls, but why did she even answer the phone? We have tried to tell them that if there is NO name, it's a crank call. And there are times when they still want to know who it was and try to use a reverse phone number lookup. They do NOT get the concept of robocalls and scams using numbers that look like they came from their area. Sigh..........

However, during the same call, she confessed that Dad drove himself to the hospital because he wasn't feeling well, and she might have thought it was the hospital calling. Dad was admitted, but no news. I'll try to call the hospital today, although I don't know if they will give me information over the phone. 

I got in touch with M, and all is definitely OK. We had a chuckle about it, but a sad one, because someone might have been scammed yesterday. 

Remember what I said yesterday about it being an appliqué day. Well, that was a lie. It's funny how we have such amazing plans for our day, and then we don't get that done! It was still a very good day, but just not in the appliqué department. 

I did get the second block fused in place, but did not get to any stitching. 

The blocks are ready to be stitched.

I even had a helper watching from outside. What I love about her is her intent. She was outside, couldn't see me as she was watching the gate, but when I called her name, she glanced down to see what the heck I wanted!!!

MOM - Is everything OK?

The next customer quilt got loaded and quilted. Everything that is quilted is trimmed and ready to go out the door. 

Customer quilt - done

But of course, I have to wait until all 11 of those community project quilts are done before they go. The backing and the batting are ready to be loaded this afternoon. 

The backing for community project number three is ready.

As you know, if you've been around for a while, there is a huge amount of community project quilts to be quilted. And I need to get myself organized to start quilting those quilts. Well, I am, but very slowly, and when I downsize, the long arm will likely NOT be coming with me. But that is way in the future. The quilting of these quilts takes no time at all - it's the prep work. I must find a backing that fits, and that usually means making it. Then I need to piece the batting because I'm using the cutoffs from customer quilts to make those battings. That is what takes the time! 

But I'll get to it, and that is what I should be doing during some of this downtime. 

The puzzle and the table assembly sat untouched. As the day was winding down, I decided to tackle the HSTs again. And yes—I tackle them in small groups. I press four at a time, and then I trim four. And since I really didn't want to do anything else, I dealt with multiple groups of four, and before I knew it, I had this many trimmed. I typically do those little groups of four between pressing other seams or other small tasks. 

Lots of trimming happened.

And now I can say for this group of HSTs that the trimmed pile is much larger than the untrimmed pile. I may even try to finish that today. There are still three other groups to tackle, but I'm getting there, and that is all that counts. The same will happen for those quilts. Just keep whittling away at it, and it will happen. 

The trimmed pile is larger than the untrimmed pile.

I have to share this story about doing things four at a time. I'm not sure where that number came from, but when I was a kid, we often had canned Saskatoon berries for dessert. I would scoop the berries into my dish and then eat them FOUR at a time. I still do to this day if I have any. I have no idea why I developed that habit or where the number four came from. It was always a bonus day when it worked out perfectly, which was very rare! 

So Quilt Canada is next month! It's hard to believe that it's been one year already. The latest issue of Canadian Quilter arrived in the mail. 

The latest issue of Canadian Quilter

Last year, it was very exciting to see so many people attend the event, but it was also very disheartening to hear so many negative things because of the crowds! I wrote about it on my blog, and I was then asked whether CQA could publish the information in their newsletter; I said yes. It is mostly about avoiding the crowds because, believe it or not, it is possible, but you have to help yourself! Don't just show up and expect the aisles to be empty, just for your enjoyment. 

So if you are attending this or any other large show, please read it. If you don't get the newsletter, then you can check it out on my blog. I get it, it's frustrating to you when the crowds are so large. But there are things you can do to make attending the show easier. So whatever your situation, please read that article BEFORE you attend your next large quilt show. 

My article about attending large quilt shows

There is so much to see and do on the internet these days -- there just isn't time for it all. As is typical at my house, there are MANY windows open on my computer, each with the intent of ordering, watching, or reading something. Yikes!!!! But here is something I discovered, and I think it's very good for anyone going through a studio/sewing space organization. It's from Jen at Grainline Studio, and her videos are very good. 

She has broken down the process into chunks, with the first day focused on Understanding How You Sew. Here's the link to the blog post, or you can watch the video on YouTube. I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but I suspect it is the same information except in video form. You can pick one or the other, or do both. I really like Jen - her patterns (clothing) are very good, her videos on the Tamarack Jacket (applicable to any quilted jacket) are amazing. The editing is great, and she's just a lovely person. 

As I go through the videos (I think she is on number 9), I'll share the links with you as well. 

And on that note, I'd better get ready for my workout with Brooke. The knee was pretty decent yesterday, but frustrating. Slow and steady is all I can say, and I don't do well with that style! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!