Slow and steady and all will be done!

I thought I had a system to remind myself to take my once-a-week bone density meds, but I haven't done it in weeks! I got an auto-renewal at the drug store, and I'm weeks behind. I'm going to have to set a task on my phone to remind me early Sunday morning. It is the most ridiculous thing in the world. I told the doctor to not give me that prescription, and when I renewed it, they forgot and sent the old one to the drugstore instead of the one I can take with food. Sigh..................

Hopefully all this strength training will help, and I can stop taking that pill. I should look to my personal trainer for inspiration. I'm not sure how young she is, but she participates in bikini fit challenges. Oh my ---- something to aspire to! 

But onto bigger and better things! 

Here is the garage. The line of crap on the right side is my sorting for the recycling depot. There are piles of styrofoam in the middle for recycling. And a few boxes of wires and lighting stuff that need sorting. 

The garage, also known as the sorting spot.

The left side is a bit messier, but not that bad. A little bit each day, and it will get cleaned up! And I'm OK with that. I need to sweep the floor and start moving the stuff I want to keep into the far left corner. My goal is to get that space tidied up by October 1. I guess I can say that I've tackled the garage several times, but never gotten to the bottom of the piles of junk. 

The other side of the garage

I found a company that will come to the house to pick up books, so I have notified them that I need a pickup, and I now have 9 boxes of books for pickup. I still have three bags and one box in the office that I will try to sell or give away to other places. If no one takes them, they can go to the thrift store bit by bit. 

My pile of books for donation

Once the last two boxes for the electrical stuff and those books leave the office, I'll have lots of room! It's not bad, not perfect - far from it, but progress is being made. 

There are so many great quotes online, and of course, I had to stop to find one. This quote is so true—I could rush through the entire thing in a day. I could be exhausted and hate the process. I do what works for me. I'm slow and methodical, and I'm not about to change. I don't want to change! At least not with decluttering. 

Here is an interesting question DH and I seem to discuss frequently. Yep - it's the use of AI. I lament about my calendar, and he says I should use an agent to help me. I don't need or want an agent to deal with my calendar. Seriously? I have trouble enough trying to remember things that I personally book - actually, I don't, but that sounds way more dramatic!) My problem is finding room to schedule something in. I'm not talking about a one-hour meeting like he needs; I'm talking about booking a quilt retreat, or a weekend away, or a day to help pack and ship puzzles. 

I don't need an agent to show me what to do - I need more weekends!!! I have wide-open weeks, and weekends are booked. Well, that's not completely true either because I have weekends open - just not the right ones! 

Then DH suggested that I use AI to help me research my subjects. Seriously? We are in totally different worlds. I'm a creative person, and if I'm looking for a quote, how the heck will AI know which one is the perfect one for me? I like to be in control and pick the one I like the best, and it takes mere seconds for Google AI to find them. I do NOT want some AI suggesting what I should use. 

And there are times when I'm researching something and something else pops up, and that is the beauty of manual research. Besides, who doesn't remember searching those card catalogs at the library? I was in my glory when I discovered those! 

So what is wrong with Murphy? She was outside and started to bark around 10 PM. Not a lot, but enough. So DH brought her in, and she went upstairs. Why? She lies in the bedroom at the back of the house so she can hear the backyard noises and the waterfalls. She slept like a log and didn't get up until I coaxed her downstairs this morning. Then before I could move my barricade to the basement steps, she went downstairs. Sigh..............

At least, we have a workable solution as long as she can do the stairs. I don't understand why she slips on the basement stairs, which have those carpet treads, and yet she can sneak her way upstairs, which are just wood. The mysteries of an aging dog. 

While you can't see it in this photo, the spider (and he's a giant one) is happily spinning his web, and it's huge. It covers a huge portion of that open space. I have no idea what it is connected to, but it's big. The spider is probably big because he is capturing lots of insects with that giant web. 

A giant spider web

I was madly stitching out embroidery samples on both machines. Here is one of them. It's a polar bear made with felting (acrylic wool on cotton). He's so cute, and I want to add some words of wisdom to him. I hope to make that happen today. The samples will NOT be finished as in quilted and bound or made into a bag, but that's OK. I feel he needs a can of Coke! 

My felted polar bear

I have a couple of other samples, but forgot to take pictures. I'll try to do that today, or perhaps I'll wait. 

I went through a lot of bobbins. 

A lot of bobbins got used.

Wait -- before you gasp at the quantity, all of those were partially used, and I was tired of seeing them in my bobbin box, so I used them up! They went in a bag and will be donated to someone who uses them for fidget quilts. 

What fabric do you use when you make samples? I needed some plain fabric to test out some quilting - wait until you hear about the new functions on the PFAFF creative icon 3 for quilting! Anyway, I got to the point where rotary cutting wasn't happening. I was ripping the fabric as it was faster and easier. GASP - I never thought I would say that.

RIP!!!!!!

And the room looks like a tornado went through it, but that's typical when I'm in intense work mode. 

Studio B in disarray - again!

I created a few embroidery files to stitch out today, and I'm searching for two things to embroider on, and I haven't seen either. I swear I have them, but where the heck are they? I might just go to the thrift store to see if I can find replacements, or I have one other tub to check. Darn annoying! 

And then I spent the evening with the puzzle. Actually, it isn't that difficult of a puzzle and rather fun, once you get into it. Can you spot the duplicate doors? They are almost the same, and that threw me off. I'm definitely working by color and still have red and miscellaneous. I should be able to finish that by Monday night and pack it in my suitcase. Oh yes -- I know puzzlers across the country, and why not share my wealth rather than donate it back to the thrift store? 

Progress on the puzzle

Now that I've worked with it a bit, as I scour my design boards, I can quickly identify the location of pieces and find them a home. And in my slow, methodical way (I will never be a good speed puzzler), I try to find a home for all the pieces I pull. I had some yellow pieces left, and by scouring the picture on the box, I found a home for all of them. Now that's satisfaction! I'm onto red later today. 


I have to share these with you. Yep --- it's my daily dose from Thought.minds on IG. I love seeing what they post, and so much of it is true! OK—so the artwork is AI-generated; you can't have everything. If only we could live with all those words of wisdom. I think the goal is to pick one we already do well or believe in, then find a new one or just think about them. And try to be a better person. Not perfect - just better. 

OH MY --- how true is this one!!!! I'm not quite like the dog, but it doesn't take much to give me joy. 

And I love this!! You have to read it a few times to realize what they are saying. But are you a chicken? 

Let's face it - panicking doesn't work! 

And on that happy note - I'm about to panic! Kidding—I just have lots of work to do and am trying to declutter the house at the same time. Have you noticed that it's nothing for me to declutter these days? I may not do a lot, but almost every day, something gets put away in its home or finds a new home. It's a habit that can become addictive, which is good since the flow of stuff to deal with is steady!

I have enough samples to take with me - any more is icing on the cake. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!

Mission accomplished!!!

OH -- I need to get back to answering those blog comments!!! Tammy --- I NEED an ice scraper! I was the one who drove over the snow before it was shoveled, and that spot has niggled at me for weeks now! I'm chiselling away at it with the shovel, and it's almost gone, but for the future! That's hilarious, and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only anal person about the snow! 

It was a long, yet very productive day! The quilt top is in one piece!! I never thought that would happen! I said, " Let me get to this point, and then I'll finish tomorrow." But then I got to that point and was still doing OK, so I went to the next point, and before I knew it, the top was together! 

But I paid the price. I don't know if I was so keyed up from my achievement that day or from watching the curling until the end (extremely intense!), but I couldn't sleep, and I don't have time for a nap today. It's going to be a tough day! I can feel it now. I may have to steal to the bathroom of the hotel to take a small nap!

Maybe a corner of the lobby has a bench! Or since we may have sun, I'll be in the car! I've got some Plan Bs!

As a result of all that piecing, I got a ton of half-square triangles done! Yeah!!!! But I didn't have the opportunity to press them, let alone trim them. That's a job for another day. 

Lots of half-square triangles done!

And I finished off more bobbins and a spool of thread! 

An empty bobbin and a spool of thread

Out of those two trays of partially filled bobbins, I'm down to this! One in the machine, which I think is almost done, and these two. What a great way to use up those partially filled bobbins. Otherwise, what the heck was I going to do with them? 

Almost finished with the partially filled bobbins

And here's my tray of triangles ready to sew. OK - I know it still looks like a crazy mess, but I think it looks better than it was when I first laid the triangles out! The layers are thinner! 

The triangle tray!

One day, I hope to get back to some serious piecing, like I did yesterday, and then we can really see that tray of triangles disappear, but the fact that they are in a spot where they are visible and usable makes all the difference. And let's hope that someday I'll use them up faster than I create them! Of course, I could just have a half-square triangle sewing day!

So it was a great day. And it was a good thing I had not loaded that giant quilt on the long arm yet. I will move that aside and put my quilt top on tonight. I'm in a meeting for two days, otherwise that quilt would be done today! 

I should be able to get that quilt in the mail by Wednesday! If I had been smart, I would have it done for today, and then I could drop it off. But that isn't going to happen. That will leave me with about 10 days to finish the second one. It's much smaller, but more detailed, so we'll do what we can! 

The office didn't get much work, but that's OK. I'm mentally going through what's in those folders and trying to mentally tackle it. I'm doing a great job, and that's all that counts. 

In the comments, someone asked about the Archive folder in my email. I still do not understand how it works, but I periodically check it, and for the most part, it is empty. But I spotted some emails in it this morning. I deleted them. And I see there are still 600 messages in my delete folder, and I can't just delete them. I have to go through each folder separately, delete all the emails, and then delete the folders. I don't know why, but I know what to do, and that's all that counts. Slow and steady!

I have two sessions on Sunday, and I have enough pictures of my work for both!!!! Yeah! I'm not sure I can function without all that pressure! I just need to receive photos from the attendees and add them to a PowerPoint presentation. 

WAIT -- I did a bad thing yesterday. When I took a break, I read an email from Louise Penny, a Canadian author, and her emails are always fun, with lots of things to explore. Well, she posted a link for the top ten most circulated books by Canadian Authors. OH GOSH --- I had read TWO of the books, two of them were on my list, and there was one author I had never heard of. 

Well, not one to shirk my Canadian loyalty, nor to be behind on new-to-me authors, I added a few items to my HOLD shelf in the Libby App!!! Thankfully, only one of them was available immediately, so once I finished my audiobook last night, I now have a new one to listen to later tonight as I load that quilt! 

What a farce! When it comes to books, and especially things that I can borrow, not buy, there is no limit to my madness!!! 

Well, I see time is running out, and I must run. Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

You are never too old!

OH, I just realized that the title of yesterday's blog AND the first picture you see of a volcano erupting were perhaps a bit dramatic!! BUT getting that much work done in the office was dramatic! 

I listened to this audiobook MANY years ago when I started my decluttering journey. I just checked my blog and the date was March 10, 2014!!!!! Well, I listened to it somewhere, and I suspect it was before I started because the first room I tackled was the bedroom, and that's the first room mentioned in the book. For the record, and so I'll be able to find this post in the future, the title is "Throw Out Fifty Things" by Gail Blanke! 

Throw out Fifty Things! 

It's a quick listen - about 4 hours, and it's good to refresh what's in the book. Mainly, Gail discusses the emotional attachment to things that we MUST keep. And then she throws the items away. She also gives you permission to throw/donate or sell those ridiculous things we think we'll find the mate for (socks and mitts), we'll learn to relove or whatever. 

BUT she also talks about how you feel AFTER you purge. And that to me is the most important thing. It's not something you can describe, but I'll try. While our kitchen is ALWAYS pretty clean, a few things had accumulated during the day. A few dishes that needed to be handwashed (GASP), and some things that needed to be recycled, or whatever. Before I went to bed last night, I took 15 minutes (if that) and dealt with it all. 

When I got up this morning, even though I didn't turn on the lights, walking into that clean and tidy room was like getting a shot of euphoria drugs! I felt content, I felt happy, I felt like I weighed about 50 lbs. No monkey's on my back, no guilt, and it feels AMAZING to start the day like that. 

The same thing is starting to happen when I walk into the office. The mess has been here so long that even the small bit I did makes me do a double-take each time I come in here. WOW -- I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders. I feel more positive, more alive, and definitely more energetic. Watch out!

So, if you've been waiting to start tidying up, I can't help you do the physical job, but I sure encourage you to begin tackling stuff - you will NOT believe how amazing you are going to feel. I can't imagine how I'm going to feel when I am "done!" OK - let's face it - you are never done with this job! 

But if you can, have a read through that book - it has a lot of good things to say. It is not a detailed book, so don't expect to be hand-held, but it talks about the WHY, and that's all you really need. And that was how and when I started on this journey!! 

So I'm not doing so well on completing my three things each day, but I'm OK with that. At least I have a plan, and when I am working, I'm working on the three things I've prioritized!

I managed to finish another customer's quilt. 

Customer quilt - DONE

While the quilt was fine, it was my bobbins that were giving me grief. In my cleaning-up and trying-to-use-up mode, I had discovered some CLASS 15 bobbins wound with the fine thread that everyone is moving to for machine quilting on the long arm. 

The only problem is that those bobbins won't work in my long arm. OK -- they may, but I'm not about to try and mess up the tension. So I have to wind the bobbins onto the appropriate bobbin, and my bobbin winder is a speed demon, which has caused some issues. But all is good, and I think I got the hang of it now. I have enough of that color to quilt one more quilt, and by then, I hope my new bobbins in the correct size will have arrived. 

Rewinding the bobbins

And this fine thread is a godsend for quilting a quilt when the back is very dark and the front is very light. You can get away with a much closer in color match to the front, without seeing the thread in great detail on the back. I'll take some pictures so you can see what I mean. 

I made progress on my houses, which were the next item on the list, and I'll continue working on them today! And the third thing didn't get touched! But I'm OK with that. It's the plan  (including prioritizing) that counts, not actually getting it done on that day! 

Houses under construction

And on our Monday call, someone mentioned making blocks for fidget quilts from some items I had donated to her. Well, wait a minute, I remembered that I had a small tub of more similar items. Needless to say, I got that tub out yesterday and sorted and bagged like items! It's now waiting to get on the Pony Express. 

Sorting a tub of embellishments

And that reminded me of this pile of things on the floor that have been there for a while. I ran out of steam while tidying up Studio B a while back. And I need to deal with those things, so I now have a pile that needs sorting and putting away. The LAST homeless stuff in the place!! Is that exciting or what? 

The last of the homeless items in Studio B

Not the vacuum, nor Murphy, but the pizza boxes and the two blue tubs! Granted, there are tons of things to deal with, but these are the last homeless items. There's a huge difference. Homelessness creates clutter (OK - quantity does as well), but this is huge! And it's only taken me ten years or perhaps a bit more to get to this point! 

I'll never go back, and now I can grab a category, sort through it, and then move on to the next. Baby steps!!!!

Let's go back to the candle wax. I put it in a bag and brought it into the office, which is why this place is so messy! It has EVERYTHING in it that doesn't have a home. Hopefully, by the end of the year, this mess will be a thing of the past!

The leftover wax

I am tempted to try melting that wax and make a new candle. I know -- I don't need to, but I'd like to try - just for the fun of it, and how long can that take? I have to head out this morning to get dog food, or Murphy won't be eating tonight, and Michael's is right there. I bet they have all the supplies for making candles! Then I can try it, and if it doesn't work, guess what? I can donate the supplies and let someone else try it! 

And last night, as one of my cleaning tasks, I poured boiling water into the dish to heat the glass, then I emptied it, and wiped it down with a paper towel. Hmmm—now what do I do with it? 

The clean candle container

I could put it on my desk to put odds and ends in! WAIT --- I don't plan to have odds and ends by the computer—I plan to find a home for everything! What a FARCE!!!!!! 

But I do have another burned-out candle downstairs, with a ton of wax left, and it smells very pretty. I might melt that wax down and make a new candle in this. Then I would use it!! 

I must write the city to say how happy I am that the sidewalks are clear! It's a dream to walk the dogs without fear of falling on the ice. Although I almost took a dive yesterday. I was turning the corner on the bustling street, where many cars were stopped at the light. We had had a light snowfall, so the treads on my shoes were full, and there was a wee mound of snow right by the light post. 

I have to admit that I was probably very entertaining for all who were stopped, as my arms and legs went flying, but I remained upright! Trust me, I was ESTACTIC!!! Why? It means that my balance is so much better!!! Murphy just looked back and said, "Mom - get over it, you're slow!"

But what amazes me is how silly people are. I passed one house; they had shoveled their driveway and the boulevard part of it, but left the sidewalk. How much more effort would it have taken to shovel that little bit of snow? Or what about the person who shovels the sidewalk and then leaves a pile of snow on the sidewalk at the end of their property line? Sigh...........

Could they not have shoveled the sidewalk?

Our neighborhoods are way too car-centric and have no idea that people use the sidewalks. But with the milder temperatures (no sun though), the sidewalks are relatively dry and not slippery. Knock on wood! I even walked to the hardware store and brought home two storage tubs. I walked, of course! 

With the number of times I've cooked oatmeal in the microwave, you would think I would have perfected the technique. I'm using up a bag of oatmeal, and it takes 3 minutes, not 3½ like steel-cut oats. I had that process on the microwave keyboard down pat, but yesterday? I forgot to drop the power level. Trust me - it makes a difference!

What happens when you forget to drop the power

And I can't post without mentioning the girls, who were having a grand time in the backyard. Another silly rabbit has moved in, and they are on the hunt! They work as a team. One stands in one spot, and the other goes to where they suspect the rabbit is, in an effort to flush it out. How do dogs know how to do that? 

Rabbit hunting

So I washed my jackets in that new soap I bought. Here is the before of my orange down sweater. 

Before washing

And here is the after. The lighting is NOT the same, so it's not really a good comparison. But it is cleaner. 

After washing

However, if you have ever washed a down jacket, you will think you have ruined it! This thing goes to nothing. Just two layers of nylon with nothing between. Until the feathers dry, and then a bit of puff remains. But sadly, it is on its last legs as a winter jacket, but I'm not ready to retire it yet! The lower half of both sleeves has been replaced, as has the zipper - thanks to Patagonia, who did that for free as part of their sustainability goals. THANK YOU, Patagonia!!!! 

And the best part? I may have paid about $300 (at the most) for this jacket in 2012. The cost to replace the coat is still in that price range!!!! I have sure got my money's worth from it. I won't even consider any other brand!!! What I love is that it's warm and THIN, so you have loads of mobility! I don't want to be the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man!

I had a quick chat with my personal trainer yesterday as she waited for her client to show up! And then I got an email in the afternoon, asking me what my goals for 2026 are. Hmmm --- that's a good question. So I thought about it. 

But there was one thing I observed during the day. When I went to change the bobbin on the long arm, and the machine was all the way to the back, I could easily reach under and change it. In the past, it had become a struggle, so the stretching is paying off. YES -- I could move the machine to the front, but why if I don't have to? 

I should add a bit more stretching into my day, but I'm doing great. My balance is good -- shoes and socks (even the hard-to-put-on ones) can be put on easily while standing on one foot. 

Hmm—OK—I know what I want to improve. My BMI! I need to get toned as I have a few rolls. WAIT -- before you roll your eyes -- one can be smaller, but still have excess fat! That's me - I used to be in better shape. So while I don't want a six-pack, like my SIL has, I want to be better toned, and that means cutting out all sugar and weight lifting! That doesn't have to be huge weights, but it needs to be weight lifting. That's also essential because if I fall down, can I actually lift myself up, even if I have a chair close by? 

So we'll measure that by BMI (body mass index). I did the basic calculation with height and weight, and I'm just at the top of the normal weight range. I'll use the machine at the gym to get a better measure and then see where we go from there. So lower BMI, and toning - that's my physical goal!

And that speaks right into the quote of the day!

How true!

The last thing I want to mention today is that I am grateful for the body that I have. I have taken care of it (mostly) throughout my years, and thanks to my Mom, I have worked out at a gym for almost all of my adult life. Why my Mom? She has always been overweight, and I vowed NEVER to let myself go like that. I try hard, and many people think I'm obsessed with food. Yep -- I am. Because if I weren't obsessed about what I put in my mouth, I would be just like her. I won't let that happen! 

Funny how you get influenced by others on what to do, and also on what not to do! 

And yes -- the volcano is Mount Etna in Sicily! 

The next quilt is on the long arm and ready to go—much smaller than the last two, so that is good. And I have to get some computer work done today! That's OK -- and then I'll sit down with my calendar and figure out how to utilize my time to get prepped for the Zoom sessions this weekend and, more importantly, the following weekend, which is my one big weekend per month!!! 

WAIT—this is my week to chat on QUILTsocial, and I have some fantastic things to share!!! You must check them out. 

Day One - A quick discussion on cotton versus polyester thread

Day Two -- Felting on your embroidery machine --- super cute!!!!

Have a super day!!! Be positive - there is always a silver lining!!! 

Ciao!!!

Making fabric from scraps

I hope you all get a chance to read the comments. There are some great ones, and I need to respond to them! 

One person keeps a torque wrench in their vehicle! Oh my, and the number of people who use EXCEL!!! I am very far behind the times! I'm not sure I would track some of the things people track, but hey—we each need to do what works for us!!!!

I learn so much from coming to a retreat - well, any interaction with people! They are so much smarter than I am! Yesterday, we were talking about Zoom presentations and how some people can be a tad verbose! So we investigated the ability to add a timer to the Zoom screen. Good grief—what an ordeal. After much searching, I found the settings menu, but only after I had some help. Then, for the life of me, I couldn't see the actual settings until the same person looked over my shoulder and spotted it. 

Only to realize it was on and I just needed to find the app on the Zoom screen. All is good. So I can now turn that timer on. Hmmm -- do I use it, or just give them a warning that we have X number of people and we need to get through it all in the hour? 

I had to sit down and tackle that final puzzle. As mentioned, it was only 350 pieces, so it was pretty easy to do. 

The jigsaw puzzle is done! 

However, it was marked "Family" and contained three different-sized pieces, which I've never seen before. Here's a close-up so you can see the transition from the middle-sized to the small pieces. The shapes are totally random, which helps with the transition. I can't wait to get home and dig out a new puzzle, clear off the table, and get started! But maybe not this week! But I did THREE small puzzles this week, and it was glorious! 

Transition between medium and small pieces

Here was our observation of the morning. It seemed that every time we stopped at the creek, we spotted something new. The crust of water has frozen in a rippled pattern, mirroring the water as it flowed. How cool is that? 

The creek with a crust of ice

Here is the thread situation. I'm going to make it!!!! I still have this many partially filled bobbins with thread on them. Plus, there is one on the top and one in the bobbin. I'll make it with thread to spare! And I'll be down to a manageable number of empty bobbins for this-sized machine. Life is good! Yes - I could have gone to the quilt store to buy more, but I have tons at home, and I wanted to get these bobbins used up! Actually, I can put the empties on one side and the complete ones on the other, and I can give the bobbin holder to someone here! One more thing gone! 

I still have thread! 

A few more half-square triangles got completed, and depending on the situation today, I may just finish that bag off, and it will be done. It doesn't come back to the retreat! There aren't that many left, but when making fabric from scraps, I tend not to use many enders and leaders. 

More half-square triangles

But what's the main thing I worked on? How about this? 

My soccer quilt

This is a panel I bought years ago, with three coordinating fabrics, including a wide border print. Off to EQ8 to figure out how to make the quilt to MY regulation-sized quilt - approximately 60" by 72". That didn't take long, and soon I was cutting and sewing. I just can't say the regulation size is 152 cm by 182 cm. Of course, then I would likely say 150 by 180. 

But then it came to that border print. Hmmm -- does the black section go in or out? My initial thought was that it would frame the quilt's outer edge. So what does one do? Audition, of course. 

Dark edge of the border on the edge of the quilt

Green edge of the border print on the edge of the quilt

I asked for advice -- hey, that's one of the reasons, it's so fun to be here. And I even prefaced my question by - "I know what I want to do, what would you do?" And guess what? Hands down, except for one, they all said - black inside - green outside. After seeing it on the wall, I agreed, and the black border is in. I'll use a black binding, and all will be good. 

Someone asked me what I do with the leftovers from making a quilt, especially if it's all from a collection, like this one is. Well, you check to see if you have enough fabric to make the backing. Can you believe that I did? So the backing got made. OH shoot -- I bought that solid black fabric the other day and only used a small part of it. Well, it's packed in the car, but when I get home, I'll make the binding. And then it gets moved to the "to be quilted" pile. 

The backing for the soccer quilt

What will happen to this quilt? I've no idea. Someone suggested giving it to a kids' soccer team and letting them raise money. But that requires a license and is more hassle than it's worth. I'm sure I'll find someone. 

If you make mitered corners with border prints, you know you get those triangles after cutting the corners. Well, this border print is 10" wide. So I laid them out, and once I have some of the backing leftovers, I can put a strip in the middle of this and make a small quilt. It will be very small, so maybe a playmat or the center of a quilt. I'll see, but I'm keeping all this. 

The leftovers from the border print

Once that quilt was done, it was later in the evening, and it was time to select the next and last project for this retreat. I decided to dig out the scraps of dog fabric. Can you tell that making something from "nothing" is one of my favorite things to do? I could do it all day! And each project has a slightly different method. 

Sorting the dog fabric

You can see my apple snack. There are cookies, but I'm being good. I'm so tired of eating "away" food, although we have eaten like queens, so I can't complain. I just want fruit and veggies at this point! No cookies, no sweets, just plain food - that's all I want!

Back to the dog fabric. Step One was to sort the fabrics. By the way, this bag of dog fabrics is all the leftovers from making the eight dog quilts for the vet and his staff. There are the leftovers from cutting the fronts and trimming the backs. Plus, I have this brown colored dog panel that I bought when I was in BC. 

My new dog panel

I sorted into three piles. The bright colors, the browns, and others. That is a huge step. 

One, it is easier to "make" fabric when the fabric styles are sorted. I'm making blocks, so it's not a huge task to sew a couple of seams and trim a block down. 

The second reason this sorting is excellent is that it's a huge task with a massive pile of fabric. This way, I have all the bits for each print together as I try to put like fabrics together in one block. When I need to get creative, I try to match at least value, but I do what I can. 

The other reason is that I'm making blocks with a cohesive colorway, which makes it look less scrappy!!! 

Sorting fabric into styles

Then it was time to open EQ8 again and see how many blocks, along with the panel, are needed to make a quilt. I'm back to my original tricks with EQ8. I never put the panel in the program. Why? I just need to know the sizing. For the brown quilt, I need 98 six-inch blocks. They finish in the quilt at 5 1/2."  And I'll need to put a coping strip around the panel so the blocks fit. That's OK. I'm not making the quilt today, just prepping the blocks. 

"Making" fabric with the brown dog fabric

I already have 38 blocks!!!! But I cut what I can from the "yardage," which is often just strips of fabric. I keep the smaller pieces in view, and if I'm short, I can look at the scrap inventory and grab the appropriate piece. It's all super easy!!!! And logical!

I have a pile of pieces ready at the sewing machine to be sewn, which I'll get to right after I press PUBLISH this morning. 

Pieces of fabric ready to sew

I should have no trouble finishing the components for this quilt before we go. 

The next time I touch the pet fabric bag, there shouldn't be any brownish fabric in there, and I can choose to work on the bright colors or the others! I'm guessing there will be one quilt of each category. Amazing how those cast-offs can accumulate, and you can make something pretty impressive from them. That is the kind of thing I want to present in a Zoom meeting - hopefully in January, once I give myself some quiet planning time next week. 

My presentation for this afternoon is almost complete. All the photos are saved, and I just have to load the ones I received late last night. 

Sadly, today is the day we leave, but I think we're all ready to go home. It's been super fun. Loads of laughs, so much learning that my head is exploding, and I should have made a note (perhaps in EXCEL) of all the things I want to check out in the coming year. I'm not talking about becoming an Excel expert, but there is one thing I want to learn that shouldn't take too long, so I'm trying to be very specific so I can understand it and then move on to the next question!!!

OH --- here is a mystery. I am using my iPad as an expensive tool to stream music, whether that is the radio or music. I use my iPad because otherwise, when I leave the house with my phone, it disconnects from the speaker while I'm walking. However, when I leave the house, the connection to the speaker still drops, and Spotify starts playing on my phone. Why is that? There is some SYNC feature that is causing that to happen, but what? I hope that makes sense -- Spotify wants to play music for me whether I'm on the iPad or the phone, and follows me! 

Most of my stuff is packed, which is good because then while the rest of the others pack up, I have time to go through the house - take out the garbage, ensure beds are stripped, etc. We will be gone by 1 PM. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Unpacking from quilt retreat

OH ---- I learn so darn much from all of you that it blows my mind! I just read the comment because we were discussing ways to use up those partially wound bobbins. Well, why can't you use the partially wound bobbins (from the long arm) to piece with, but on TOP, not in the bobbin? DUH!!! I knew that!!! LOL

Perfect because there are some rogue colors in those bobbins that have been there for eons, and well, I don't need them. Here's the thing, because I'm sure many of you are gasping at the thought of using all these rogue colors to piece with. If the tension of your machine is good, NO ONE will see what color of thread you pieced with. 

Speaking of bobbins, I'll get to my story in a minute. 

We got the cars packed, the retreat house tidied, and the dishwasher turned on. I usually remember that about halfway home. I restarted my phone, and guess what? There were no issues with Android Auto timing out with the car. I should know that. Of course, DH asked me when I told him the story how often I restart my phone. HEY --- I restart my phone often enough, but it just never occurred to me to do it with the car. 

Like a computer, one should restart anything "smart" fairly often because updates are constantly happening - not that frequently, but often enough. The memory can become bogged down, or something else happens, but regularly rebooting is a good practice. 

It was nice to get home - poor Murphy is getting beside herself with all the coming and going in our house. She has another 11 days of it to deal with, and then everything will be back to normal. At least for those eleven days, I should only be out of the house for about six of them and not home for three nights spread out over the eleven days. 

And NO ONE believes me when I say October, November, and December will be quiet. NO ONE!!! Here's the thing -- my events have to be scheduled months in advance or at least four weeks, and there is NOTHING in the works. December is always a quiet month, so at this point, it all looks quiet. What could possibly get scheduled to cause issues? 

I will have a lot of work I want to do, but it shouldn't be overwhelming with events and classes. 

OK, here is the progress report on what I did yesterday morning before we left. I emptied a whole lot more bobbins - well, this was since Friday. What is left in that bobbin case is not a lot. I kept six bobbins because they were the new style. And there are four partially wound bobbins to deal with. One had Perle cotton on it, and I took it off when I got home. YES -- I put it with the rest of my Perle cotton threads. 

The bobbin situation when I left the retreat

I have one more of those bobbin holders, and it's also filled with this type of bobbin, all of which are partially wound. We will NOT go there and ask why I have so many. HEY ---I already gave away a huge pile of this size bobbin to someone else. They were all the multi-colored ones - I hope they were the new ones. In this bobbin holder, there is a different style bobbin as well, so I need to move those to a new place, as I sometimes get other machines that require that other size. I should do a post about bobbins one day!

My smaller-sized bobbin collection

I put three empty bobbins in my retreat supply box because it's good to have them handy for upcoming retreats, as I won't have these holders with me once they're empty. Then both of these holders went into the retreat bag for the next retreat, which is in December. OK -- so I'm away in December, but there is nothing else where I have to be away. Well, that's a lie since there is a guild talk in November. But that's it!!!

I feel pretty good about clearing up those bobbins -- don't worry, I have two more bobbin holders for the EPIC and icon series of machines, and let's not forget those long arm bobbins. It's kind of good to clear them up and start over! 

It will take a LOT of piecing to make that happen. 

I also got some more enders and leaders sewn together. When I got home, the bag was set beside the computer, and I hope to tackle that at the Virtual Retreat because I can set the laptop up by the ironing board or cutting table and press and trim to my heart's content without focusing on what I'm doing. I'm such a big talker, I don't get much done during those events. 

My ender/leader project

And here's my Halloween quilt. I got all the squares sewn together, and the first border is on! If I had gotten up early like I had planned to, I could have put the second and final border on. 

The tenth retreat quilt top is only missing one border

Here's what the second border looks like. I will not put this in the retreat bag for the next retreat. I should be able to get that border on in October. 

The border for the Halloween quilt

And of course, I had to put one last piece in the puzzle before I left. We left it up, and the house owner says it is fine to stay for the next retreaters!!! So imagine their surprise when they get there and there's a half-finished puzzle. I would be thrilled to death!!!! 

The puzzle progress

Can you believe I dug out a puzzle last night and put it on the stairs so I can take it up to Studio U? Yes --- I am going to delve into that pile of puzzles. I need to do that before I buy any more, and there are always good ones at the thrift shop!!!!

These were the only four project bags I took to the retreat, and they mostly carried the dog fabric quilts and fabrics. One by one, they were dumped on the cutting table, and I dealt with all the stuff. 

My project bags for this retreat

First up was to put the dog fabric away. I retrieved the basket from the stash room, and these were two pieces I had not taken with me. They are canvas/tapestry dog-themed, and I'll have to make something out of them or sell them. 

Canvas/tapestry dog fabric

I had purchased this piece of fabric years ago. OK -- let's face it -- that is NOT a dog print. It's more like a wild animal with big claws. It is now in my backing fabric pile for the community projects. 

Wild animal track print

There are many fabrics that I pull out of any basket and question why I purchased them. This is a draft stopper. You sew the two bits together (front and back), and why did I buy that? If anyone wants this, let me know (elainetheriault@gmail.com). It's yours for the taking. I do not want or need it. Or you could use it as a cushion! 

Dog-themed draft stopper! 

Here is the stack of quilt tops and fabrics that I pulled for the backs of these quilts. 

The pile of dog quilts and fabrics for the backing

Can you believe there is still this much dog fabric that went back on the shelf? See what I mean? Why the heck did I buy so much? I spotted a couple more panels in the basket, but they are more juvenile in style, so that's why they didn't go to the retreat with me. But wouldn't it be nice to say that in November, I'll pull this basket and deal with it? That would be amazing if I could tackle that. Let's wait and see. 

What remains for the dog theme

I pulled out the black and white scrap box, so there are loads of scraps in here that can be cut for that ender/leader project. I also set this beside the computer so that during a Virtual Retreat, I can go through the box and cut those 1½" by 2½" rectangles. 

The black and white scrap box

And now I'm all packed for the next retreat. The bag on the left has another ender/leader project in it (half-square triangles), a set of placemats, and my supply box. The bag on the right is the one I took and mostly brought back intact. It's filled with enough projects for a week. I'm ready!

I'm ready for the next retreat!

And there's the cutting table this morning. I have a few small things to deal with later today, and there are still those two projects that I must tackle, but that's after this next crazy spell is done!

The cutting table looks in good shape

I did take a wee break yesterday afternoon, and while I have a LOT of work to do, I spent a couple of hours just relaxing and finished my book. I needed to, and then I was able to sleep well. All is good, and I'm now going to walk the girls and head out to my meeting on the other side of the city. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!