A state of flux!

All the Zooms are done for a few days, and ALL the follow-up is done!! That's a first for me. Cleaning up the presentations, writing out the email, double-checking distribution lists, and so much more! 

But it's done! I wish I could say the same for my state of mind! I'm in a bit of a flux this morning. No news on Dad - well, the news is he hasn't had surgery yet, and I'm not sure if they will deem it safe to do that surgery on him at his age. 

Hopefully we will get some answers today. 

In the meantime, I'm supposed to head out to a quilt retreat today because I have things to drop off, and it will be nice to have a relaxing day, but I'm also contemplating heading out to Saskatchewan tomorrow. The ticket price has me second-guessing, and I want to make sure it will be worth my time and money. 

So hopefully, with a few phone calls, I can decide. Since I'll be away next week and the week after that, I don't think DH wants to be with the dogs by himself for that long, so I may make it a short week and just stay home. Like I said - I'm in a bit of a state of flux! 

After our two scrap sessions, I hope the students are madly asking themselves questions and wondering how to proceed. They have a lot to consider, and if they go with it, there is a lot of work to do. I hope they are up to the challenge, and I'll follow up with them later this month to make sure they're on the right track. 

I chuckled because at the end of the session, one participant said, "Those are wise words, and we need a reminder once a year."  Oh no -- you are not getting off this easy, my response? This is a lifestyle change, and you will be living and breathing the answers to these decisions for the rest of your quilting career. You won't need a reminder! 

One thing to say about making all those presentations: I am constantly thinking about the flow and the logical order of the process. It doesn't always work, but I think I've got a good handle on it by now! Making a presentation is just like being a storyteller, but with pictures instead of words! 

If you ever need to communicate something to someone, practice out loud at home. I don't stand in front of the mirror to do it. I do often "present" when walking the dogs, so they are quite knowledgeable about quilting! But it's amazing how your communication skills can improve by thinking through what you are going to say, practicing saying it OUT LOUD (especially introductions), and then going for it! Do you know that most people "hate" their voice? Especially on tape. But the more you listen to yourself delivering a speech, the more comfortable you get. I don't think it's our voice we hate, but the thought that you are in charge of this conversation!

Here is the status of my two winter quilts. The borders were supposed to be on both for UFO Club yesterday, but my Friday threw me for a loop. I'm close!!

The inner border on this quilt

I hope things will quiet down—seriously? Why do I even say that? I know it's never going to happen. Even with my personal stuff - things just go haywire! This blue outer border is one of the prints I picked up last week. 

Adding the outer border

I had help while I was on Zoom. Murphy is not happy that she doesn't have the freedom to come and go as she used to, but that is a life change. She's getting used to it. The girls and the boy are NOT happy that the backdoor isn't open as much as it used to be. The temperature is getting a wee bit chilly, and so they don't have the same freedom! 

MOM - I'm here for you!

As I look at that picture, I see my Singer iron on the little ironing station, my two blocks for 40 shades of grey on the wall, and a mess of projects I am currently working on. 

I've been thinking about buying one of those rolling carts you can get at Michaels, but I don't know if it is big enough. Perhaps if I got two, I could remove a table? Hmmmm --- thoughts on that? 

I just checked online, and they have quite a variety. Maybe I should try it. Two people I chatted with yesterday have some sort of cart, and they like it. Hmmm -- might work for my class projects. And maybe one for samples. I will need a four-tier cart!

This was the mess that I have been facing since the Facebook Live. I managed to get some stuff put away yesterday and certainly did NO sewing. 

The mess in Studio B

I also inherited (OK - I bought) some supplies from someone who was getting out of quilting and embroidery. Here is the thread haul I got. 

My thread haul!

You can never have too much thread. There were a LOT of other things in the bundle she dropped off at my door (how lucky can you get), and I'm happy to report that it's all put away. Yep—there are maybe three things I don't want, and I'll take them to the retreat; if no one wants them there, I'll post on the blog. It's all about making decisions, having homes, and then getting rid of what you no longer want. 

I will say that my thread bins are full! There is NO need to buy more thread until some of the bins are a bit emptier. Lots of machine embroidery on the horizon. 

Bear was hanging out in the bed in the front window! The silly guy—he loves to sleep there so he can keep an eye on everything happening in the neighborhood. Sadly, he goes home today!!! 

GRANDMA -- I'm on my break from guard duty!

And here's my "official" puzzle picture for September. I might be OK with spacing and order in verbalizing things, but in the written world? I start too big and have no room! 

The puzzle is officially entered in the monthly contest.

I doubt I'll get another puzzle done this month, but it depends on what happens this week. I think I'm averaging about two a month, which works for me. 

I've had this window open for a couple of weeks to alert everyone to the new Canadian postage stamps honoring antique quilts. Check it out. These quilts are from the Royal Ontario Museum collection, and they were on display a while back. Well, it's almost two years since that exhibit was on, and can you believe I did NOT post a single picture. 

However, the collection is online, and you can check it out here. I believe the duck quilt is on the third page. 

OH - so I sent my follow-up emails yesterday, with BIG attachments. I'm sure my Google Drive is having a heart attack this morning. Email is really the biggest culprit for the space, and I was messing around in it yesterday. They really need to make this stuff more user-friendly, but then people would actually delete stuff instead of just buying more storage. OH—those hi-tech companies are very clever and know we are willing to cough up more money instead of time!

I refuse to do that, so I am going to keep investigating and plugging away at getting rid of stuff. But I still haven't hit that magic button yet. I am having to go ONLINE to delete stuff, and of course, they start you with the most recent. I want the old stuff! Sigh.................

I know that some of you want to dive in and help. I know how to do it - I know how to search, and I'm pretty darn competent. It's just finding out how their systems work and how my Windows systems work and how to make the two of them talk to each other and how to decipher the BEHIND THE SCENES small delete button. I'll get there - it really just requires a concentrated effort on my part. 

I should just take my laptop to the retreat and spend the entire time deleting crap! I could - it would be easy! 

On that note, I'm off. Who knows where I'll end up tomorrow, but hopefully we'll have some answers and know how to proceed. 

It is going to be an AMAZING day!!!! Why? Because I say so!! And as Captain Jean-Luc Picard would say - MAKE IT SO!!!!

Ciao!!!