A squirrel hotel

 It was one of those days. I still have a couple of quilts to trim, and that other quilt is almost off the long arm, but the top is still pinned to the leaders. It's lying nicely on the long-arm table, and I'll deal with it on the weekend. 

We had two AMAZING club sessions yesterday. One on EQ8 and the other on Digital Cutters. So much information and so little time, and I hope the participants get as much out of the sessions as I do. We had design exercises in EQ8, and it was amazing to see how each person interpreted a quilt that I asked them to recreate. I was stunned --- all were amazing, and none was wrong. That's what I love about teaching --- if you give a little bit of guidance and let them go --- people will soar! 

And the digital cutters -- well, I'm learning tons, and it's so exciting to see the group jump in to start cutting. Again -- lots of great tips to pass along. I'm taking a notebook to write down some of the ideas and agendas for next time while the ideas are still fresh in my head. 

After the clubs, I needed to get to work on machine embroidery. And when you have two projects and limited time, what do you do? You fire up TWO machines - that's what. 

Sending embroidery files to two embroidery machines

I was creating the components of the embroidery in the mySewnet embroidery software, and I was sending them to the EPIC 2, and then to the icon 2, and so on, until the embroideries were created. I edited them on the respective embroidery machine and hit START. 

It was a challenging couple of hours as I scooted from one machine to the other, changing threads, trimming, or whatever needed to be done. It was a feat, but at the end of the day, all five of those projects are done, or as done as I'm taking them for the moment. Cute? They are super cute!! 

Using two embroidery machines at the same time

The sixth project is cut out and in a bag to take with me. Yep-- I'm away all week (again!) but packing a sewing machine and other sewing stuff, so I hope to eke out a bit of time to do the sixth project. It can be done! I may be sewing in my hotel room late at night, but I will finish it. 

Never mind that I have some writing to do and lots of planning in addition to the fun we're going to have this week. It's going to be busy!

Then I had to take some time in the afternoon to finish the geocaching for this month. I was down 115 points, and the deadline was midnight. I decided to go for some Adventure Labs, which meant I had to walk to five locations and answer a question at each spot. I went down to the lakeshore (Lake Ontario), about 10 KM away. The temperature was excellent, and I walked by the lake with no hat, no mitts, and my jacket open. It was a STUNNING day even though there was no sun. 

I will NOT tell Lexi and Murphy where I went, but I want to take them there at some point. I started off in a HUGE leash-free zone with trees everywhere, and it's enormous! I could easily get my afternoon walk, and they could go crazy. There were also lots of dogs -- they would have been in their glory. I might take them more often if they didn't get so excited in the car. But then we have a leash-free park that we can walk to. But NOTHING like this one. This was the first time I had been to this park. 

The leash-free zone

The first Adventure was in the dog park, and I swear I was the only one in there without a dog, but it was so wide open I don't think anyone noticed me as I was aimlessly wandering around trying to find the right places. And all I have to guide me is a darn compass on my phone! But I found everything and answered all the questions correctly. 

Then I was onto the second Adventure, and it was close by (within 1 KM), so I just walked through the wooded area, and then here I was - at the lake and in a beautiful conservation area. 

Rattray Marsh

Now if I'm lucky to live where I do, with the wooded area behind me, the people who live close to this conservation area are BIG winners. This is a stunning place, and I could have spent hours walking around, but I was on a mission. Here's the Toronto skyline from the conservation area. It's hard to see, but there's the CN Tower -- you can't miss that. 

Toronto skyline

And there was a sign for Shingles Bar. That must be quite the place to have a view right on the lake. Well -- there was NO bar. The bar refers to these pebbles on the beach. WOW --- this was super interesting, and I could have spent more time looking at the rocks. I didn't bring any home, but aren't those the perfect shape to skip on water? Not that I can do that. There is an EARTH cache with more information on the area's geology, which I'll go back another day and do. 

Flat pebbles on the beach

There was very little ice built up at the water's edge. While there were people out, it was not crowded and a perfect time to explore. 

Not much ice on the shore

Many trails in this area are raised boardwalks, so you don't damage the vegetation, and it keeps people ON THE PATH. 

Raised boardwalks

And why not incorporate the trees into the boardwalk rather than go around them! 

An interesting solution to a tree in the way

It really was beautiful, and those boardwalks went on forever. Mostly, they were clear of snow, and walking was easy. Some less popular areas were covered with ice and snow, making for interesting footing. But it really was in decent shape, and thankfully, it was warm. If it had been cold, like we had a couple of days ago -- this walk would have been bitter! 

The boardwalks go on for miles

The marsh is gorgeous and would look even better in the summer. There is lots of wildlife (birds) around here as well, and I had to guess the first answer to the first question as I did not see a sign, but I was right! Great Blue Heron. And did you know that Asian Carp and goldfish are evasive species? I have a pond filled with goldfish, but they are contained, so they don't cause any problems. Hopefully, those herons eat the goldfish in the marsh, and that keeps them from visiting my little fish in my little pond! 

Looking out over the marsh

So when I completed the two Adventures, it was time to get back to the car. By this time, I had walked quite a ways and was hoping I could find my way back. I also needed to get ONE geocache to get all the points I needed. So using Google maps and the geocaching app, I knew exactly where I was going, and on my way to the geocache, I spotted this bench. How cool would it be to have a bench in your memory in this beautiful spot? 

A bench along the way

And thankfully, there was a little snow, so it didn't take long to find the cache, although I did feel bad as I traipsed through the woods rather than follow the path. I did NOT know the path circled around and passed right on the other side of this tree. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of snow, so my feet remained dry for the entire walk. 

An interesting geocache

The container was at the end of a LONG, LONG chain. The top of the pipe was capped to keep the snow and rain out. 

The geocache hiding spot

And there was the path on the other side of the tree. Shoot --- I should have realized I didn't need to traipse through the bush. But sometimes -- well, you never know. 

The path beside the geocache

Once I accomplished that and headed out to the street, I walked back to the car. This is one of the areas where older houses (bungalows) are being ripped down, and larger homes are being built. This has to be the ugliest front door I've ever seen. It was HUGE, black, and so uninviting. And the upper story of this house was very narrow. I couldn't tell if the house was being renovated - a large dumpster was inside the fence. Anyway -- it was a bizarre house. 

An uninviting front door

Do you want to know the amount of walking I did? Close to 17 KM. I'm not going to let that little pace marker get ahead of me! But it was a lot of walking, and when I returned to the house (about 40 minutes later than planned), I was back to work to finish those projects. 

But everything got done as it was supposed to, and life is good! 

OH -- not to discredit my little forest (it's actually a woodlot, but to me, it's a forest), the squirrels were out in full force. I don't know how many of them popped out of this tree, but it looked like a squirrel convention, and they were all staying in the hotel! There's a hole near the bottom of the tree, and they came out of it. How do those weird holes happen? Something to do with a branch coming off? I've no idea. 

The squirrel hotel

On that note, it's time to get moving. I have to walk the girls and pack the car. The trip is only about 50 minutes (by toll highway, which will cost me a fortune), but worth it to bypass the Monday morning traffic.

I'm looking forward to the week, and there are a few adventures planned, so I can't wait. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Productivity on the rise!

 

I was on a roll yesterday, and I never did get out on the bike. I was exhausted by dinner time, and I could barely do some stretching, let alone get out on the bike! 

Well, it was a super productive day, and honestly, we need to be careful what we wish for!  

So, I've decided that I need to resurrect The Task Master. What is that? It's simply a notebook where I write down what I need/want to accomplish that week. Why did I resurrect it? I want to be able to see what I've accomplished in the week. I get to the end of the week and wonder what did I do all week? So I wrote down several quilting tasks that need to be done this week or ones that I want to accomplish. 

The Task Master notebook

The trick is to NOT over-commit. I hope I didn't do that on the first week back. I think I was pretty reasonable, and then when I finish something, I get to check it off! That's a glorious feeling. I'll do it for a couple of weeks to get myself back on track, and then I might abandon it again. I do love seeing what I've done in the past weeks. 

It was a busy day at the long arm. First, I got this customer quilt done. I'll be trimming it this morning. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I was on a roll, so I decided to load one of the small flannel quilts that Diane sewed, and I got that quilted as well. It's trimmed and ready to bind. 

Community Projects quilt - DONE

And I wasn't ready to stop there. I had a small project that needed to be quilted, and I was going to do it on my domestic machine, but then I thought - I can get it done quick on the long arm so that one is also done and trimmed. A second small project is on the long arm, ready to go this morning. Can't show you either of them - they're going into a publication. 

So you see why I was exhausted? WAIT -- there's more. 

Here's the deal - we know that we all have so much fabric that we'll never get a chance to sew it all up. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have someone sew for you? Well, I now have TWO people sewing up the community projects stuff. And BOTH of them are good sewists who keep me on my toes to have stuff ready for them. 

I just gave Diane a large laundry basket of stuff, and she's going through that to make kits and eventually quilts. I've no idea what was in that basket. My MIL was bored and ran out of things to sew, so did I have something for her? I gave her three quilts to bind, which she ended up doing by hand. She had 30 pillowcases to make and a string quilt to finish making the blocks. 

As you saw last week, she already finished the binding on the three quilts. I spoke to her yesterday, and she has 23 of the 30 pillowcases done. I'm sure she's finished them now. So I have to get busy and keep stuff prepped for her to sew. She's in her 80's and doesn't have rotary cutting tools, so I do all the cutting. 

Let's just say that all that pillowcase fabric is now cut up! 

I created 22 more complete pillowcase kits. 

Pillowcase kits

And this is all that's left from that large stack of fabrics. 

The leftover bits from cutting pillowcases

And there are still bodies and bands that need to be matched. I'll go through the stash boxes this week to find something that'll work with these. I'll wash the fabric and get it cut later this week. My goal is to have 30 more pillowcases prepped for her. 

Pillowcase bands and bodies

When I cut the other fabrics, I didn't necessarily cut them to the correct length. So I quickly learned that by placing the band on top of the body, I could get both of them cut to the correct length. 

Cutting the band and the body of the pillowcase

There are 15 pillowcases currently prepped and ready to sew. There are another 6 or 7 that are cut but need to be trimmed to the right length. For the remainder of my 30 for this week, I need to search for fabrics. 

My goal is 100 pillowcases, and that's it - I'll be done with pillowcases. So there won't be a pillowcase sewing day this year. Of course, there probably wouldn't have been anyway. 

Here's the scrap box!!!

My scrap box is overflowing again!

So if MIL is going to bind quilts for me, I'd better keep ahead of her. I can't complain because this might be just the incentive I need to get to work on those quilts that Diane has sewn. And I still have more that I made a while back, and those are still waiting to be quilted. I don't even want to know the number of Community Projects quilts that need to be quilted. BUT - this is a good thing - I have the batting for a lot of them, and if I could get those quilts done, it would clear up a HUGE section in that storage room. 

Once I'm done with my project on the long arm today, I'm putting another kid's quilt on it and hope to get that done today. I'll give her three at a time. I dug another string quilt from my retreat box, and instead of finishing the blocks, I'll give it to her. Yikes -- this could be a big deal to keep up with her. 

Does anyone have stuff they want to be sewn?? She's an EXCELLENT seamstress. I do have some clothing fabric that I might pull out and get her to make me some stuff. But, oh boy -- we've created a monster. I have to tell her to slow down that there is NO RUSH for any of this stuff. 

As a treat, I took the girls to the dog park. I don't know why I go, there aren't many dogs there when we arrive, but I think that's OK. Lexi tries to play with the other dogs. Murphy gets jealous and tries to herd everyone, barking at the top of her lungs while she does it. She gets scolded and then doesn't interact with any other dog. Her only goal at the park is to play ball (OK - that's her only goal in life), and she likes to herd other dogs. 

Murphy at the dog park

When we got home, DH had put her food in her dish. The first thing Murphy does when we arrive home is to get to the water dish. She's thirsty because she has worked herself into a frenzy. She had her drink and then came to find me. When we got back to the kitchen, she was staring at her food dish. She WILL NOT touch it until she gets THE command. It's either one word or a little finger wave, and she's good, but she won't budge. Yet, when she starts to eat, she inhales the food. And she knows she has to SIT, or she won't get the command. 

Waiting for THE command

What I want to know is why? Why is this dog so good with the SIT command and waiting for her food, but she has only two speeds when she's on the move - STOP and FAST? And what's with the ball thing? She could play all day and never tire out. 

I decided to go shopping yesterday, so I stopped by the hardware store to get some wood glue to fix my IKEA shelf. NO line-ups although I was fourth in line to pay for my purchase, which was OK. The line went fast. But people - when you are NEXT in line, pay attention. Don't be messing with your phone. 

My wood glue

I'm reading some old issues of Cloth, Paper, Scissors STUDIO magazines. I swear that every fourth studio they show has one of those IKEA tables with the sawhorse legs. It's hilarious. 

Speaking of IKEA, did you know they sell sewing machines??? They may not sell it any longer as I did not see it on the IKJEA website, 

IKEA sewing machine

Well, it's my favorite day of the week - it's MONDAY!! And we get to sew with the Monday sewing group. Yeah - I'm so glad we're on Zoom. It means that I get to quilt on the long arm at the same time, and that saves me a whole lot of time. Plus, I can work on prepping those pillowcases and other things that need to be done, and I couldn't do that if we met in person. 

I did clean up a bit more paperwork yesterday. Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but every paper I deal with is a blessing. It'll all go - it's just going to take time. 

It's a jam-packed week. I've got MANY Zoom calls all week, and I hope to get some sewing and quilting done between them. 

On that note, I'm out of here!!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Humpty Dumpty cannot be put back together again

OH - it's a GOOD news day!! I'm thrilled to report that there are now only THREE pineapple blocks to complete. Yes -- I managed to get one done this morning. Now that I'm finished fiddling with the Long Time Gone quilt top, there's time to actually do other things! The remaining three blocks have all been started, so if I don't finish them at Monday sewing today - well - they need to be done!

One pineapple block - DONE

I might even get that last section together and into the quilt. Fingers crossed on that!!!

I got the binding on my Spectrum Quilt-a-Long quilt and took the necessary photos. So that project is done - I still want to make a fancy label for it, but for the moment, it's done. I'll be posting all the links soon, but if you want to follow along, it's on the QUILTsocial.com webpage. Here's the link to my Block Two. 

The binding is on the Spectrum Quilt-A-Long quilt

And I got a customer quilt finished as well. 

Customer quilt - DONE

So I've made a big dent in the quilts for May, but this is going to be a busy week, so not sure how much quilting I'll get done. Well, there are two on the list for this week, and I won't be able to do more than those two. 

While some paperwork got done, the essential writing did not. It was Mother's Day, after all, so I just said, "screw it!!" I chatted with my Mom and my Aunt and got caught up on the news. So that was good. 

OK  - so I'm totally amused by small things. When you walk as much as I do - checking up on the happenings in the neighborhood keeps you entertained. So, remember those two eggs on the red plastic lid? Yesterday, the lids were gone, and only one egg remained - intact!

One egg left

The other egg? Well, let's put it this way - Humpty Dumpty cannot be put back together again. I'm still curious why they were there in the first place. Now I have to watch every day to see what happens. BTW - in case you are wondering about that palette from way back? It's gone. It's been gone for a while. So I need to find something else to amuse me! 

Poor Humpty Dumpty

Every afternoon, I take a walk. It clears my mind, gives me a chance to reflect on stuff and just get out and enjoy the neighborhood. I used to take the girls, but I no longer do that. They are quite the handful. 

I also used to take the girls to the leash-free zone. We'd go by car, and they would freak out when they knew we were close. Listening to two frantically barking dogs was more than I could take, plus a wee bit of politics thrown in, and we haven't been to the dog park in over 2 ½ years!!! 

It's only 1 KM to walk to the dog park, so I thought we should check it out again. I only took Murphy, which didn't go over well with Miss Lexi. But she mostly just stands around at the park anyway - so what's the point? It's all about fairness, just like with kids. 

Well, it was an easy walk despite Murphy's excitement at sniffing new territory. I'm happy to report that she is getting better on the leash. Not perfect by a long shot - just better. 

And the dog park? WOW - lots of changes. It's completely mulched (or almost), which is a good thing since it was always a mud pit when it was wet. There's a BRAND NEW fence along the back, which is great as the old one was a joke. 

Murphy uncertain what to do at the dog park

What was crazy is that she, for the most part, clung to me. What? Murphy never does that. She did do some exploring and was a little apprehensive when some other dogs came to visit - OK - they came to sniff! I didn't take her ball, but I will next time. Yep - I think we can make this a regular visit, and I'll take both of them. I walked in the dog park so, by the time I got home, it was a longer walk than if I went by myself. This might just be a good thing for all! 

Murphy checking out the squirrels on the other side of the fence

And I need to take water. There is NO water in this dog park, which is OK. I just need to carry some. Murphy was panting like a mad dog on the way home and happy to have a wee rest in the grass! We don't have grass at our house, and she loves the grass. 

Murphy having a rest in the grass

On the way home, we passed a beautiful front yard with all kinds of tulips. Where are the rabbits in this garden?? 

A beautiful garden filled with tulips

And here's my sad, lonely little tulip which the rabbits have eaten the good stuff from the bud. It will not be blooming this year. 

My sad little tulip

While most consider the dandelion a weed, it's actually a very bright, cheery little flower, and look at the bloom up close. It's gorgeous!!!  Plus, they are good for the bees!!!

The dandelion bloom

As I sat in the gazebo and chatted on the phone, I was entertained by the birds at the feeder. There were lots of them yesterday!!!

Birds at the bird feeder in the backyard

So here are two things for you to contemplate. It appears that the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England is a GO. IN PERSON. It's scheduled for the end of July/August. Would you go? Hmm - I've always wanted to go to this show. And while I'm not afraid of getting COVID, and I know that I'm protected and take precautions, what about the others? It might be the year to go - things might be cheaper as businesses open up and want people to travel. I wonder if there are travel restrictions - the UK isn't exactly my choice of destination at the moment. 

Here's the second thing. I'm reading Mindscan by Robert J. Sawyer. It's the year 2045. Jake (the main character)  has a hereditary disease that could end up with him becoming a vegetable (are we allowed to say that any longer?) Anyway, his father has been in an institution for years, and Jake didn't want that to happen to him. So at the early age of 44, he had his brain scanned and transferred to an artificial body. He no longer needs to eat, drink, or sleep. He doesn't get tired and no aches or pains. 

We're following his story in his new body and his old self in the old body as it goes to the moon to a retirement home. Hmmm - would you be happy with an artificial body? No more chocolate - no more wine - and no more luxuriating in bed just before you fall asleep. 

I'm not sure I could handle that - immortality and no other real pleasures or mortality and guilty pleasures. I love chocolate!!! 

I was chatting with one of the neighbors who is decluttering. He agreed that he's a hoarder and gave away have of his clothes that he never wears any longer. So the job today is to tackle that closet - yes - do it again. If you don't have time to tackle the entire closet, look at ditching at least five things you no longer wear. I'm sure that won't be hard. Just let the emotions go and if it's something that you really liked, take a picture of it, try putting it on, and then put it in a bag!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. Another super busy day and some things HAVE to get done today. So no slacking off. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!!

Lexi goes to the D O G P A R K

Hi - it's me LEXI!!!!!!   It was a crazy week and Mom didn't get my own blog set up.  Boy - I need to talk to her! She's not very organized!

Lexi!!!!

My life just gets better and better.   While I love my forever home and my old sister - Little Sammy and my Mom is pretty cool, the best place in the whole world is the D O G    P A R K.  I don't know why my Mom insists on spelling it out - I know what the DOG PARK is!!!!!  

There are several dog parks in my new city, but there is one that is very close to me.  Mom says we could walk there, but I'm always so excited that she drives us in the car.  And sometimes, I'm so excited that I cry - I just can't wait to get there!  I'm never very loud and Mom always laughs when I do!

Speaking of the car, I have trained my Mom about the car.  She just didn't get it at first.  Whenever we were going in the car, I would go out (on my leash) and start jumping at the car and scratching it while Mom came down the house steps and opened the car doors.  Mom was NOT happy.  Now she gets us all ready and then she goes out to get the car ready. Then she comes back in the house and lets me out WITHOUT my leash!!!!!   Yes - I zoom out of the house and jump right into the back of the car (you see my Mom learned to open the hatch door so I could jump right in).  I'm trying to train her for other things, but it takes time to train people.


Then Little Sammy hops into the front seat and we are off. If we drive the long way - it is about 3 KM to the dog park, but if we go in the back way - it's about 1.5KM.  Mom doesn't think it is good for my old sister to walk that far.  Hey - she's fat - the exercise would do her good!!!!!

Well the car is pretty exciting - look at me - I like to sit and look out the back window at everyone.  

Checking out the traffic behind

And sometimes I like to see where we are going

And sometimes I'm just a goof!!!!

 Mom says that all pictures were taken when the car was STOPPED.


And you won't believe this, but look my MOM has stickers on the back of the car for the entire family.  And look - there is a sticker for me - and it looks just like ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Mom says it was for the old dog that died, but this is a picture of ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!       That other dog didn't look like me at all!!!!!

Look at ME on the back of the car!!!!!!

When we go to the park - I like to run and run and run and run and run and run.................. well you know what I mean.  I get so excited, I can hardly contain myself and there are so many new friends.   I just love them all and can't wait to go there to run!!!!!

Running at the dog park

I'm faster than a speeding bullet!!!!

There are some fast dogs there, but so far, I think I'm the fastest.  My Mom says she just loves to watch me as I twist and turn with the other dogs chasing me.  And if no dogs are chasing me, I taunt them, I tease them so they will try to get rid of me and then I run and they are right on my tail. Mom says that I can turn on a dime!  My tongue is hanging out almost all the time  - that's cause I'm hot.

I'm way in the back there - running!

And do you see those trees to the left?   There is a lot of squirrels down there - I could jump that fence and go down, but there are a lot of trees and my Mom says I'm not allowed down there.

New friends at the dog park

And what does Little Sammy do at the dog park????

Sniff

Climb rocks

Play king of the castle - boring baby games!!!!!

And when I get home, I'm exhausted - well most times.  Sometimes when I get home - I just want to run some more and Mom puts me in the backyard.  I can't get enough of the dog park!!!!!

Exhausted

I forgot to mention - while there are other dog parks in this city - the BEST one is ours. It has a great big long name - Quennippenon Meadows, but everyone just calls it Q Park for short.  I like that!!!!

The best part is that Little Sammy and I are now MEMBERS of the Q Park.  We get to go there all the time. We're like FAMILY with the other dogs.  It's so much fun!!!!  FUN is my middle name.  Remember the FUN(draiser) we went to last time - well they were selling calendars of the Leash Free parks and my Mom made a donation - she says it's good when people donate. That means the park will be around for me and my friends to play in.  There are lots and lots of pictures of dogs that go to the parks in the calendar.  One of the people saw my Mom with her camera and asked her to take pictures of the dogs at OUR park so we can be in the calendar for next year.  Oh my Mom has taken LOTS and LOTS of pictures.  We don't have time to fix them all up this morning.

Leash-Free Mississauga Calendar

Lots and lots of dogs!!!!

 Here is one of my favourite pictures so far from the dog park.  Look - Jax and I are doing the tango in MID AIR!!!!

Lex and Jax

Mom says I'm a character. I wonder what that means????   But she was looking at these pictures when she said it.  Do you think I'm a character???

Looking to the right

Looking to the left

 What can I say - my head was heavy after all that play time!!!!


Even Little Sammy is liking the dog park. She usually sticks to my Mom like velcro. She is scared of the other dogs - but the more Little Sammy goes, the more comfortable she is becoming. Sometimes, she even wanders off on her own, but not very far.  She even tried to make friends with a small dog the other day.  I'm very proud of her.  And sometimes when another dog is bothering her - I will come to Little Sammy's rescue and distract the bigger dog so it leaves Little Sammy alone!  HEY - that's what big sisters are for!!!!

We've been to the dog park so many times - I just can't remember them all.  One day we went to the park THREE times.  Mom thought I was extra rambunctious that day and well - I think she likes it at the dog park too!!!!!


I have to go - time to patrol the backyard. There are loads of squirrels out there and they taunt me!  And one day - yes one day - I'm going to get one of them!!!!!


LOVE LEXI!!!!!