Going modern

I had a look at my list of Tasks for the week and I'm doing very well at crossing them off. A few things that aren't going to get done. But those will get rolled over for the next week. There was a lot of running around this past week that I didn't count on.

I went back to my old car - it looks so sad in the car wreck graveyard but I collected the bag of lug nuts for the fancy rims (my summer tires) that are in storage and well - those tires on the fancy rims belong to me - insurance only wants the car as is. If they tires won't fit the new car, I thought I'd sell them, and it would be nice to have those nuts. I said "goodbye" to the car and that chapter is closed. But there's still the tasks of getting new winter tires for the new car and dealing with the rental today. So many details.

A couple more errands and then I was back home. I did accomplish a lot of paperwork, but not all. I have to do more this afternoon.

Then it was back to the sewing machine. Actually, I don't think I really sewed much yesterday but I had stuff to prep for some upcoming blog posts. I really should have been doing something else but that's me. I'm better, but not always the best at prioritizing. That means that something that is due today isn't going to be quite finished.

Here's the status of Jingle all the Way by Kimberbell. There are three more pieced blocks to add to the mix. I'm making the half square triangles as enders/leaders so they're almost ready to be sewn together. I think there's still 9 embroidery blocks to make. Just didn't have time! But all is good.

Blocks for Jingle all the way

I was finishing off the blocks for the homework for last night's class of Lilla at Oh Look Fabric. I'm loving this quilt and we have a great group of ladies in the class. It was so good to see some faces that I haven't seen in a while - Hi to Genny and Kathy. A couple of newbies in the class. It's going to be great fun and I think almost everyone wants to make the HUGE quilt with 100 blocks. 

These are the blocks that I made for last night. The pattern calls for four of each block. The rest of my blocks are cut and in partial assembly, so I could demonstrate the techniques in the class. Won't take too long to finish them off - but I MUST make sure that I finish them off.

Blocks from the Lilla quilt

What I love about modern blocks and IMPROV piecing - there is NO right or wrong. If you look at that middle block - the pink and grey one. The block on the left is how the block is supposed to look, but I changed it up and rotated the left side section before I sewed it together. Does it look wrong? Nope. I want everyone in the class to realize that anything goes. As one of the newbies said, "as long as it ends up a square we're good?"  YES YES YES.  She's going to do great in the class.

Then we had a fabric buying frenzy as some of the ladies had to buy fabric or supplement what they had brought. It was great fun and there are some amazing combinations. I can't wait to see the blocks next month.

If you're interested, now that you've seen a couple of the blocks - you could still sign up! We meet once a month on Friday night.

I got home a wee bit later than planned and too tired to work on my other modern blocks. These are for the West End Modern Quilt Guild's charity quilt for Quiltcon. I ended up with FOUR packages of blocks to make and each package contains 7 blocks. OK - so I shouldn't have left that for the last night.

I've made eleven blocks so far this morning and hope that before I leave for the meeting that I can get at least another six made. They are ALL supposed to be made for the meeting as we're laying out the quilt. Oh well - we'll have to make it up with plain squares of fabric and I'll make the blocks this afternoon. One must be flexible - this is a HOBBY after all.

Making improv blocks

Then that quilt has to be sewn up and quilted ASAP as it needs to be in the mail by February 1 which in my house is LOADS of time, but I must be cognizant of the other deadlines I have. So far so good.

On that note, I'm out of here. I've got to get a few more blocks sewn!

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Mark these dates!!!!

A couple of dates that I forgot to mention or I want to mention again.

Tomorrow is the first class for the modern block quilt called Lilla. The class takes place at Oh Look Fabric in Milton. There are 25 different "modern" blocks in the quilt. We're going to walk through the process of choosing fabrics, lots of sewing, cutting, and pressing tips. And design - we're going to design our own quilts. If you want a fun evening out - sign up for the class by calling the store.

Lilla quilt pattern

If you're in the market to do some organizing, then I've got a great idea for you. The Brampton Quilter's Guild will be hosting the Downsizing Divas at the January guild meeting. I was a wee bit skeptical when I heard about this because almost every organizing guru does NOT understand the quilter's space. They immediately think CRAFT and while quilting is a craft, it's got a whole subcategory of its own. However, I'm happy to report that these ladies have spent considerable time in one of the guild members homes. So - I think they know what we're up against.  It promises to be a super and informative evening.

Here is the information about the meeting location, etc.

Brampton Quilters Guild - January Program –THE ART OF ORGANIZING AND DECLUTTERING YOUR SEWING SPACE!

Downsizing Diva Brampton and Caledon franchise owners, Brenda Alderdice, Maria Lourenco, and Mary DaSilva will be sharing their many years of experience to provide us with suggestions to organize your creative space including the importance of sorting your inventory and labeling, storage options, “easy find” methods and more!  

Check out their web site!  www.downsizingdiva.com    (click on Find your Diva)

The meeting is January 24, 2019, 7:30pm, Jim Archdekin Recreation Centre 292 Conestoga Dr, Brampton, ON L6Z 3M1  Members free, Guests $7.

My friend who used to quilt sent me this photo of her space which she just spent two days cleaning up. She now sews mostly home dec stuff - I've got something else to share with you about her and what she does. I'll save that for another day. 

A very tidy storage space

Let's just say that she doesn't need to come to the decluttering your sewing space lecture. What do you think??  Those are roman blinds that come down and hide her storage space. It's a very neat idea and tidies up the sewing space very quickly. That's just WAY TOO NEAT for me. 

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Doesn't that sound exciting???   I can hardly wait to go!!!  I have made leaps and bounds in my studio, but I'm always up for some new suggestions. 

Here's a couple of other dates to keep in mind. 

If you're interested in my UFO class - it starts on January 27 at 2 PM. I've got space for 3 more people. It might even become a work session - you never know.  Pick a project and we'll meet once a month to help break it down into manageable bits. Send me an e-mail if you're interested. 

Here's the link to all my classes that start in January in case you missed it.  You can get all the details on the two classes mentioned above plus the others and I think there is still room in the Kimberbell classes at Brampton Sew n Serge. Not so sure about those at the Hobby Horse. 

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EQ8  - anyone up for a class on EQ8?  I've got a class scheduled for February 10 at 1 PM (right after our UFO class that day!).  It's a three-hour class, you need to bring your laptop with EQ8. Depending on the participants, we'll go through the basics - setting up the workspace, starting a new quilt, starting a new block. If we have time, we'll go into importing fabrics and a few other fun things. Send me an e-mail if you're interested. If you have EQ7, let me know - if there's enough interest, perhaps we can have a class on EQ7, but seriously - if you have EQ7 - you SHOULD buy the upgrade. The new version is SO much easier!!!!!

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Yesterday was a challenging day. I got stuff done, but not without some challenges. I was working on the embroidery blocks for Jingle all the way and was having an issue. I'm not sure if it's my sewing machine or the embroidery design. The issue happened with ONE particular stitch. Not the stitch per se, but ONE particular spot. It was quite annoying, however by advancing (and bypassing) that one stitch, the thing stitched out perfectly. Now I'm doing research to understand why that ONE stitch caused me so much grief????? 

I did get four more blocks completed. They need to be cleaned up but I had run out of time by then. 

Four more blocks for Jingle all the way

I also had a HUGE customer quilt loaded on the long arm. And things were going great. Of course, there had to be an issue. This time it was a bobbin. The bobbin ran out. No big deal. I put in another bobbin and hit "pattern repair" to go back the couple of inches that the machine ran before I stopped it when the bobbin ran out. Instead of tracing back along the pattern, the machine made a beeline for the edge of the quilt. ACK!!!!!!   This somehow messed up the placement of the pattern and I couldn't get it back in the right spot to continue the row. OH, good grief. I tried several times and nothing.

I was having my issue with the embroidery machine about this same time and well - I went and had dinner. Then back at it where I solved both problems. I figured out how to get out of that row (on the computer) and then back into the row (on the computer). Then reset the registration mark and went back to the end of the stitching and it worked!!!!!   I was jumping up and down. How I learn these things? I've no idea. Thankfully I'm not afraid to try. What did I have to lose? I just remember Angela (my Quilt Path goddess!) say that she can take a quilt off the long arm and if she had to load it back that she can, as long as that registration mark is accessible. If she can do it - so can I!!!!!   It happened a second time. Not sure why - I've got a question into the User's Group to see if someone knows why. At least I know how to fix it - and that's all that's important.

Here's the customer quilt.  This is NOT even half of the quilt!!!!   It was HUGE.

Customer quilt  - DONE

It's all trimmed and ready for delivery. The next one is already loaded on the long arm. It's small - probably less than ¼ the size of this one. That should be easy to do today!!!

I was cleaning up the few Christmas things that I had put out. I threw my Christmas table runner in the wash and thought I'd share the label with you. This is a label that I printed on my inkjet printer. The table runner has been washed several times and the label is still very legible. No fading from the original washing. Remember to use BLACK ink only on the inkjet printers. Mine is an HP.

Inkjet printed labeled after it's been washed several times

Remember that love/hate relationship I used to have with my printer? Well, this new one (ell - it's not new anymore) is a keeper. With the software installed on my computer, I've had no issues since. I can print and scan and I've no issues. Oh - I love technology!!!!!  Most times!!!!

I'm chugging back my third glass of water right now and my super thick shake. I may have to add a wee bit of water to it or get a spoon. All is good on the eating/drinking front. They were chatting on the radio this morning about mindful eating. In other words - think about what your goals are and think about what you're eating/drinking. Do they match??? I do believe in that. I've got new health/fitness goals for this year and so far, I'm right on track. Now I need to get that foam roller out and do my exercises!!  Despite the wind yesterday, I walked to the library to drop off some books. Yep - if you dress for it - the weather is NOT an issue. 

On that note, have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

It's all about the UFOs

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. I worked on TWO of my UFOs and I'm very excited that getting those UFOs done is a reality!!

It was great to get back to Monday sewing and catch up with all the ladies and what happened over the holidays.

Here's the first UFO.

This is a Block of the Month that I did through Jillybean's. Since that store has been closed for a long time, we know that this is an old project. Yep - the shop ran it as a monthly class in 2006/2007. Each month we had to make one applique block, one large pieced block, and one small pieced block. I was keeping up and getting all the homework done ON TIME. Then disaster struck! The store closed when we were working on Block 9. And well, you guessed it - nothing got done after that.

Have a look at where I am.

Gingerbread Joy by Sue Garman

The picture on the right is the pattern cover while the picture on the left is what someone did with their blocks. They didn't use the embroidery blocks nor the large pieced blocks.

Here are my pieced blocks. There are 9 large ones and 11 small ones. A total of 14 small blocks are needed for the quilt and it looks like I got those two extras completed. Yeah!!!!

Pieced blocks for Gingerbread Joy

Here are my applique blocks. That's a LOT of circles!!!

Applique blocks for Gingerbread Joy

There's also some embroidered blocks and those are finished as well. All that writing in a STEM stitch. 

Embroidery blocks for Gingerbread Joy

So that leaves four applique blocks, three large and small pieced blocks. The pieced blocks for Block 9 are already done.

Here's the pattern for the Block Nine applique.

Block nine for applique

I opened up the package to find that my gingerbread boy is already prepped and ready to be hand stitched. Well, I did have to do a bit of work on the white trim bits, but for the most part, he is ready to go. I didn't get any stitching done on it yesterday, but it's all in the little bag and ready to work on when I get tired of sewing by machine. Or next Monday!

Block Nine - ready to stitch

I started to work on the applique prep for Block 12. Oh yes - let's just skip ahead. Well, there were 44 circles that had to be prepped. And they take time. So I spent the day making circles. I didn't get a picture but it was on Facebook. Oh - here's the picture.

Making circles for Block 12

I'm bound and determined to get this quilt done! I remember about 4 years ago that I resurrected this quilt to work on. Lynn and I had been doing the same quilt although we weren't in the same class and she had also abandoned it. She got her quilt done, mine is not!!!  OH MY GOD - you have to go back and read this blog post from 2013. Scroll down until you get to the Gingerbread Joy part. It would appear that the store closed during Block 7 or 8, not 9.

Someone also gave me their small blocks as they did a different setting and did not need them. Not sure how those will get used, but they are in the box.

Extra blocks that were given to me by someone

I found this striped fabric in the box. Oh my - this is supposed to be the border/binding. It would sure look good on the Jingle all the Way quilt that I'm working on. I might need to steal a piece from it! But NOT before I measure it to see that I have enough.

Perfect fabric for the border

That's what happened at Motivational Monday sewing. Then totally ignoring what was in the Task Master for me to work on, I opened up another UFO box. This was a class that I taught at Ruti's Needlebed (now also closed also) YEARS AGO.

Stonehenge meets Jamestown

 The fabric is Stonehenge from Northcott and the pattern is from Marti Michell.

Thankfully all the fabric is labeled. This is another one of those projects that if the fabrics weren't labeled? Well - it wouldn't be pretty.

The fabrics are labeled in the project box

The pattern was originally for a queen size quilt using 35 blocks, but you could also make it a king sized quilt which needed 36 blocks. I was certain that I had made the extra block, but couldn't find it anywhere. Seriously????  Where is that damn missing block? And this has sat for YEARS because of that missing block.

Rows of blocks

More rows of quilt blocks

Yep - when I laid it out on the design wall, four of the six rows were sewn together and two rows were even sewn to each other. You can see where the missing log cabin block needs to go. There were two blocks that needed to be sewn to the end of their respective row.

Quilt blocks/rows on the design wall

So I got to work and cut the missing log cabin. Enough of this trying to find it. It's gone or perhaps I never made it!!!!

Log cabin block ready to sew

And now it's together

I also found a layout for where I wanted to place the 12 blocks.

My quilt layout form EQ7

I rearranged the rows and sewed everything together. The top is now in THREE sections.

The quilt in three sections

Isn't that super exciting???  To think that it didn't require a whole lot of time to get this thing done. There are three borders to put on. That will slow me down a bit as this is a very large quilt, but nothing that can't be done in a day. Then to find something for the backing - it's going to need a lot of backing, but I've got bolts. I'm sure I'll find something. And the binding - let's not forget the binding.


This is the update on Jingle all the Way. Here are those three blocks I made on Sunday as well as all the other blocks I had made earlier.

Blocks for Jingle all the way

There are some pieced blocks as well and those are all cut out. Some of them are sewn together - they were ender/leaders for the log cabin block. No picture yet. 

Blocks are cut out

A quick note on the diet. Again - no issue with sugar cravings although at some point in the day I was hungry so I need to get checking on the calorie intake to make sure I'm eating enough. Thanks to drinking lots of water, my weight is back in the buffer zone! Already got my supplements in me for the day and two full glasses of water. Here's one think about this program that bugs me.

This is the container that the shake mix comes in. It's BRAND NEW and is less than half full. Can they NOT put it in a smaller container? The cost of transporting this huge container and the EXTRA plastic required to make this huge container - well it's very wasteful and I shall be writing a letter to them. I did last time, but nothing changed. The company is supposed to be very carbon footprint conscious so I shall remind them of this mess. But the shakes are good and I'm happy.

A brand new container of shake mix - less than half full

I got home to this wonderful news.

I guess you can figure out what that is. I was pretty certain that this was going to be the response to the damages on my car. I'm guessing I was hit hard enough that the frame was damaged. I had a little chat with the insurance company, but I didn't get all my questions answered as I was passed onto the personal injury people - the left side of my neck and upper shoulder are stiff as a board and I'm going in this morning to have it looked at. Hopefully, I'll get an offer on Wednesday. I've got a test drive booked for Thursday AM. Oh, the joys!

It's not that I don't like shopping for a car - I like shopping on my own timeline. And I wasn't ready yet. But it must be done.

On that note, I'd better get ready as I have to be at the clinic at 8:30 AM.

Have a great day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

It's a new day...........

Today is my last day to eat unhealthily. Oh yes - I paid the price for eating bad over the holidays. I stepped on the scale and it wasn't pretty. Of course, I think I "bulked" up in anticipation of what's coming.

Actually, the switch to healthy eating is not going to be that bad and I'm already following most of the rules. What are the changes? No dairy - no big deal, other than a bit of yogurt and cheese, I don't eat cow dairy. It won't be hard to give that up. No alcohol. No big deal there either, I'm not a big drinker. No gluten - no big deal as I don't eat bread or much with gluten in it. OK - so pasta, but we don't have that often. No caffeine. Not a big deal there either as I don't drink things with caffeine in them. I drink decaf tea or herbal teas. See - I was really good and eliminated most of this stuff last year.

Nope - my issue is going to be sugar - same problem as last year. Do you know how many cookies I ate, how much fruit cake and other sugary goodies that I ate over the last 4 weeks? It's obscene. It's almost like I was on an eating binge because I had deprived myself of it all year -well not deprived, but reduced the sugar intake. I don't know, but it accounts for significantly increased body fat and of course a "few" too many pounds.

Keep in mind - I did NOT overeat at any meal. We did not have huge Christmas dinners or parties. Nope - this was just eating sugar every day. I didn't eat tons of chips - I don't eat chips anymore. I didn't change my exercise plan - this was pure sugar. I gained FIVE pounds. It's all sugar!!!  How the heck did that happen and yes - I tipped the scale over my safe zone. I'm thoroughly disgusted with myself. But it was like I was setting myself up, knowing that this detox was coming.

Anyway - I'm all set. I was at the grocery store yesterday and bought hummus and then bought supplies to make my own hummus. I bought veggies and I was actually craving those fresh veggies on the way home. Today is the last day with oatmeal for a couple of weeks. I'm going to do two weeks of healthy eating before I start the detox. It just doesn't work in my schedule to do it next week.

The goal of all this? Get rid of those ugly five pounds and body fat to start with. But more important to reset my taste buds and get rid of that sugar craving. Oh - I also ate stuff when I wasn't hungry - I ate just for the sake of eating which is bad.

My five-pound overage was all physicological eating and of course having access to stuff in the house that wouldn't normally be here! Like fruitcake! Like homebaked oatmeal raisin cookies!

Enough of that - let's see what happened in the quilting world.

As I promised myself, I sat down and created a list of things that I need to get accomplished this week. This is my Task Master book and while I have those lists (the deadline list and the UFO list), I need to break down those tasks or nothing will get done. I have 14 things on the list and not much else scheduled for the week. I even added a quote to keep me inspired over the week.

List of tasks for the week in the Task Master book

I've commandeered one of the shelves on the new bookshelf for tools/supplies. And my box with the notebooks. I've left the Task Master open at the page for this week - I don't want to get distracted. Oh - just realized that I didn't put down anything for Monday as I'll be starting to work on a UFO on Monday. Oh well - whatever gets done there will be a bonus. But I'll keep that in mind for next week.

One shelf on the bookcase is dedicated to tools/supplies/lists

What did I actually get done yesterday? Well, according to my list, I'm supposed to get all the embroidery blocks done for Kimberbell's Jingle All the Way. I got this many done.

Machine applique embroidery blocks for Jingle all the Way

This is one of three quilts that I'll be teaching at Brampton Sew n Serge starting in January. Let's just say that I have TONS of notes and tips to pass along to the students. Tips on embellishments and the process of the embroidery. It's a hands-on class - not sure if there's any room left, but if you don't have an embroidery machine, you can do the applique in the traditional way with a satin stitch on most sewing machines.

When the bookcase was installed, I had to remove a panel from the design wall. The panel is too wide now and I had the intention of trimming it down and reinstalling it. However, I've decided to leave it as is. I like the fact that it's portable and I can move it around as the tables are somewhat obstructing a good part of the design wall at the moment. Not sure how that happened.

Portable design wall

 Matter of fact, I need THREE of these boards for the weekend. I think I'm going to the hardware store today to get two more pieces of foam insulation. For the weekend, I'm going to just pin the flannel to the boards. I'll need to cut them to a length that will fit in the car and well - since I don't have a car to call my own, I don't know how long they can be to fit in the car. I'll be borrowing DH's car to transport the foam pieces. The original 8-foot pieces fit in my other car!

I'm happy to report that I can check the first item off my weekly list. It was to complete the top of Misty Pines. That got completed this morning. Now to cut the facing and the backing. That's on the agenda for today.

The top of Misty Pines is DONE!!!!!

 Thanks, Patti for that fun quilt. I say fun loosely because it was a lot of work and required paying attention at all times. All parts were used and nothing left over so I guess I did it correctly!

I also got the last quilt done for Audra. This is number five. All that's left if to attach the binding and make a sleeve. Both of those are on the agenda for today as well.

Audra's quilt - DONE

And in all that - I emptied two spools of thread. One for the long arm and one for embroidery. I was busy doing something and I heard the embroidery machine go THUNK! ACK? What happened? In the middle of a design, the thread ran out. I hadn't been paying attention. I didn't have any extra spools of the same color, but I choose something similar. You'll never find it!

Two spools of thread - gone

And that's it for today. I've got a guest coming to sew today so I'll be busy getting my stuff done. Actually, I'm very good now at staying focused when I'm by myself. I'm finally getting in the groove!

Oh - the book - Every Note Played?  I finished it last night. Cried like a baby at the end. Heartbreaking to know that people and their families are "living" that life. I had a great little chat with my friend. He communicates by dictating his messages into his iPad. There was only one typo! You gotta love technology.

Here's something for you - reach out to someone today. Someone that you know could use a boost - maybe they're sick? Even if they're not - reach out and ask someone how they are today!!

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Firsts

Don't we love to document our "firsts"? The first block of a project? First child? After we get the first out of the way, the rest doesn't really count. I have a couple of firsts to share today.

Wednesday was M's FIRST day at school. Yes - she's off to Vancouver Film School to up her game in the acting world. Sounds like she's having a blast and hopefully learning lots. Good luck M!! Someday we hope to see your name in lights!!! Well technically that's theatre, but you never know where life will take you.

The first day of school at Vancouver Film School

A selfie at school with her name tag

We always took a picture on the first day of school. However, I think we totally forgot one year.

Have a look at this beauty.

M - the first day of kindergarten or thereabouts.  Love that tunic that her thoughtful mother purchased in a size too big so she could grow into it. Beautifully accessorized by those CLUNKY looking shoes and let's not forget the BLANKIE!!!!!!   She looks like a chipmunk with her teeth sticking out - she never had buck teeth - just a goofy grin.

When I was looking on my blog for something else, I found this FIRST-day picture.

The first day of Grade 12

A wee bit short on the length of that dress. Oh well, hopefully, she's outgrown that stage. I doubt it. What I don't see - I can't fret over!!!

Oh my - well she is still cute!!!!


Yesterday was a gorgeous day, but I wasn't able to enjoy a walk as I had to teach a class. It was a rope bowl class. For all of you who know how to sew, don't take that skill for granted. Both students were pretty new to sewing, very little knowledge of their sewing machine and it was a wee bit of a challenge. Let's just say it was a good thing we were using matching threads.

Rope bowls from the class

And here's a suggestion to EVERYONE who sews. Do yourself a favor and buy a SMALL pair of snips. SHARP snips. I know where I can get them and I'm tempted to buy a big pack and have them on hand to sell to people. Drives me crazy when they have a huge pair of scissors to cut threads. Oh - that's the joy of teaching. But I'm very serious about the snips. I think I'll get a bulk pack and have them on hand. They are NOT expensive, but people don't know about them.

I'll show you mine one day - I've posted them a number of times.

Oh - I cheated and found a picture on my blog. Here are the BEST snips in the world.

Best snips in the world

But I did get some work done yesterday.

I started the samples for the Kimberbell Designs - Jingle all the Way quilt. Oh my - it's so incredibly cute. I can't wait to get back at it today. This block needs to be trimmed and tidied up. This is just off the embroidery machine.

Candy cane block

I hope to have the entire quilt together by the first class.

Here's my workstation. A total disaster. No room to put the fabric on the table, so it's on the chair. I'm pretending I'm pressing it each time I sit down!!!

Embroidery workstation with fabric strewn everywhere

 Here's my Misty Pines quilt. That's the one by Patti Carey. I'd like to give Patti a high-five for designing this quilt. Many of the fabrics are very close or have such a mottled appearance - I can only imagine it was a nightmare to make the design and then to write the pattern!!!

Misty Pines quilt

 I'm happy to report that mine is now in four sections. That's very exciting and I can't wait to get those last three seams sewn, make the facing and the backing and then it can go into the "to be quilted" pile and off the UFO list. Maybe today!!!

And I took liberty with no one around at the moment and cleaned off that table that was beside my sewing machine so it allowed me to lay out my entire ender/leader project. It's in stages, but I'm making progress.

Ender/leader project

 Here's the next UFO that needs to be worked on. I'll take pictures and post what needs to be done maybe tomorrow or the next day.

The next UFO to work on

 I can't spend all my time working on those UFOs as I have samples and blog posts and deadline quilts that need to be worked on and it's time to get to work on those. Not in a panic, but I really need to watch the time. I'll be sitting down later today to work out a schedule for the week as to what needs to get done. Actually, I might try for the entire month just to help deal with the deadlines.


So I'm reading this book called Every Note Played by Lisa Genova. Has anyone read it? Oh - it's so sad. It's about a concert pianist who gets afflicted with ALS. It's heartbreaking to see what happens to his body while his mind is totally intact. I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone. And the caregivers? Gosh - they are saints! I'm not sure how I would react in this situation - either as the patient or the caregiver. Stephen Hawking, who had ALS for fifty years, did amazing things with his talented brain. Not everyone is Stephen Hawking!

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

If you haven't read any of Lisa's books, you should. She wrote "Still Alice" about Alzheimer's and "Left Neglected" about a serious brain injury. "Love Anthony" is about autism and "Inside the O'Brien's" - Huntington's Disease.  I've read them all but "Inside the O'Brien's".

It's a real eye-opener and again, makes you appreciate EVERYTHING. Something as simple as going to the bathroom! Imagine having arms that are totally useless. You can't even use it as a lever - it's a dead weight that you have zero control over that paralyzed body part. That's what happens with ALS - your muscles become paralyzed and slowly you lose all body functions including the ability to breath on your own and to speak. I'm almost finished the book and I know what happens at the end. It's just heartbreaking to read about the family and all their issues on top of this terrible disease. I have a Facebook friend that is diagnosed with ALS and my heart breaks for him and his family. He was an excellent cyclist and so helpful in prepping for my big cross Canada trip. I haven't touched base with him in a while. I'm almost afraid to, but I'm going to send him a note today.

OK - I sent him a note and cried while writing the entire thing!

To leave you on a happy note today, I have another Facebook friend (Heather Chapplain) who is currently at the Golden Globes with her fashions. She started off as a quilter and somehow ended up in the fashion world. Here's a link to the video that explains how she got to the Golden Globes. She's been posting live IG feeds the last couple of days and it's so exciting for her to be there. Hard work!!!!  Awesome job Heather!!!!

On that note, there's going to be lots of action in the studio today and I'd better get started.

Have a super day!!!


Ciao!!!