Murphy helps to declutter

As much as it was nice to be away and sew with friends, it's nice to be home and get back into the routine! 

The Zooms went well, and there was lots of great show-and-tell, some of which I'll share later this week. Then, it was back to cleaning up the stuff. 

I still had all this that needed to be put away. Again, it was slow and methodical. It's not enough to just shove it on a shelf. A lot of stuff needs to be dealt with, and if I don't do it properly, I'll be in trouble. I managed to get through one bag and will work on the rest this week. 

Stuff from the retreat to deal with

You're saying, "Why not just put it away?" I can't because I'm prepping the stuff that will go back to the retreat, and I need to deal with the stuff PROPERLY that will never go back. What does that mean? Well, have a look. 

Take the black-and-white split nine patch, for instance. I need more fabric. Most of my black-and-white fabric has been pulled for Dear Jen, but I knew some fabrics were still in the basket. Look what I found! This is a striped fabric (2½") printed this way. Since I'm using 2½" strips, this is PERFECT for this project. 

A preprinted striped black and white fabric

I didn't bother cutting it, as it's easy enough to do at the retreat. The next retreat is at the same place with loads of room to cut. I know I'm short on the darker fabrics, so I cut two strips from the darker fabrics I found in the basket. 

As I cut for Dear Jen, I'll cut a 2½" strip from each and throw it in the bag. Having a plan helps me get this stuff done!

Then, I grabbed the paper-pieced kit, laid them out, and sorted the fabrics. 

The paper-pieced kits

Everything got put away in its proper place. And I won't ever have to worry about that again! This takes little time and isn't rocket science to figure out! Bit by bit, I'm saving myself a HUGE amount of time one day!

At lunch, I started reading another storage magazine; at least in this one, they talk about dealing with clutter. I laughed when I read this question in their Q&A section. Hopefully, you can read the last sentence! They have NO IDEA!!! 

And the rest of the retreat bag was dealt with similarly - slow, methodical, and THOROUGH. 

The weather is a bit weird—we had some snow last week, but the temperature has climbed. Even though it was 4 degrees when I walked the girls, there were icy patches, so I was careful. I was overly cautious, as most of what I thought was ice was just wet, but I wasn't taking any chances. 

First, however, these shoes went in the garbage. 

Bye-bye favorite shoes

I have another pair sitting at the door, and they technically need to be in the garbage as well, but I haven't had a chance. OK - that's so lame! The tread on them is much better, so I'm wearing those while I wait for my new ones to arrive. I might keep these for the really snowy or crap weather days. The tread is OK on them. 

Temporary shoes

Yes, I need to change my running shoes every three months with all the walking I do. Remember that I almost always (99.9%) wear the SAME shoe (running shoes)—they're my go-to shoes. I rarely wear boots, so changing the running shoes often is a must. YES -- even if the tread looks OK, the insides break down and no longer provide support. I'm sure most of you do NOT walk 350 KM in one month, so you don't need to change as often as I do. I have no one to blame except myself for that debacle last week with the fall. I'm happy to report that my neck is almost back to normal. 

Oh, then I had to deal with the I Spy stuff. The yardage and extra squares went with my boxes of I Spy fabric. The quilt went in the to-be-quilted pile, and the smaller bits went into this labeled drawer with the rest of my I Spy scraps. 

I Spy scraps

Then, I did something LONG OVERDUE. Instead of putting my sewing machine away, I cleaned it! 

Cleaning the sewing machine

This is the ONLY sewing machine I own, so I need to take better care of it. Yes - I have the use of the other machines and tend to use those instead of this one. But this is my travel machine, and I love it! I cleaned it and put in a new needle. I also restocked my supply box with thread and wound bobbins! It's ready to go for the next retreat. 

I also wrote myself a note and put it with the sewing machine to remind myself when all this was done because, in a couple of months, I will not remember. 

There was so much dust and lint in and under the accessory tray. It looks much better now, but it desperately needs servicing. Even if you don't use your machines often, they need to go in for regular servicing because they need to be oiled. The oil and grease can gunk up inside from lack of use, and it's NOT good for your machine to sit. That's why I sold all the other ones I wasn't using. I didn't want to maintain them if I wasn't using them. 

I got a community project quilt done. 

Community project quilt - DONE

It's trimmed, and I need to start putting those bindings on! There are ten or eleven now, and the pile is getting higher! 

I popped into the library, and OH MY—we have new machines for checking out books. The setup is the same as the old system, but this is contained in one unit! It's super easy to use, except for remembering the PIN number, which is part of your phone number. And I was getting books for DH. Do I remember his number? Nope!!! I had to look it up!

The check-out process at the library

I should not have done it, but I found three books at the library for me! So I carried those home. Two should be a quick browse—you do not need to read the entire book—just the section that interests me now! 

I also stopped at the thrift store, and I scored!!! I found this in the bedding section. 

A felt linen storage bag

It's about twenty inches square and made of lightweight felt. It looks like a linen storage bag and will be PERFECT for storing my small quilts. I'm pretty excited to put them in this. I have something similar, but it's rectangular and not as large. I've been looking for something exactly like this for a while. 

I also spotted two other storage bags with clear vinyl on one side. 

Two more storage bags

They will be suitable for table runners. Whatever I don't use, I'll donate back! 

They have a handle, but I don't think they would be strong enough to carry by the handle. I don't care; I just want the bag for storage. I need to tackle that this week, along with many other things. I'm good if the bags sit on the floor in the closet. 

I swear I took a picture of the EXIT Game Advent Calendar but did not. Suffice it to say that we finally dug it out last night and successfully solved the first puzzle without looking at the clues. DH and I came up with the solution on our own. We work so well as a team - he found one part, and I found another! He wanted to do more, but I said we need to savor this game, and if we're done by the end of January, I'll be happy. Good grief -- too much excitement in one day! My brain is good for one puzzle a day! 

We have Murphy and Lexi, and they take up a lot of space in our house. Not just their presence, but their stuff! We have Lexi's kennel, Murphy's window bed, a dog bed under a table, and a set of blankets on the floor in another corner. All that's in the living room. Then there's a dog bed in the office and one in the family room. Do they need them all? Probably not, but Lexi used to sleep in the dog beds before she was allowed on the couch. Now, she's a princess. 

In the afternoon, when I was having my snack at the kitchen table, Murphy was chomping on her bacon-flavored broccoli toy in the bed that's in the family room. 

Mom - I LOVE my new toy! 

Then she decided that the bed needed to be moved. 

MOM - I get a better view over here

Then she moved it again. 

MOM - this is better - I can watch TV and chew

The next thing we knew, she attacked the bed and started to rip the foam inside it! She pulled the foam out in bits and left them on the bed. Then she shook the bed, and there was foam everywhere! 

MOM -- this bed has to go! I'm done with it! 

It was hilarious, and instead of scolding her, I took pictures and sent videos to Mr. Bear. The bed belonged to Sammy, a much smaller dog. While Murphy and Lexi could snug into it, it was too small and very old. It needed to be tossed. 

Thanks to Murphy, that bed is gone. Will it be replaced? Absolutely not! I moved the set of blankets from the living room into that same spot, and all is good! 

Well, it's time to get to spin class. I'm going to try this morning and see how it goes. It may or may not work out. The pain is not so much fun in the morning, but things seem to settle down somewhat after the morning walk. The pain doesn't go away, but it's much less. Let's say the pain is tolerable, but I have to be on a plane next week, and I have no idea how I'm going to manage that. It's a three-hour flight, and I can envision myself lying in the aisle with a pillow under my leg. Let's pray that I get an upgrade, or I'll be taking a stick with me to chomp down on, like in the old days when they had no anesthetic when they did surgery!

I'll be putting a review of my 2025 class offerings on the blog later this week, as well as the Virtual Retreats planned for December. I'm going to have something around Christmas Day because many people have no plans, so why don't we all sew or just chat? It makes it a lot less lonely for those missing family!

I haven't harassed you in a while, but do NOT forget to keep at the decluttering. Drawers, papers, doors, countertops—every place has clutter! I know—I've been there and am still there. Keep at it—you are going to be amazed at the sense of peace that you'll achieve. I LOVE it! 

On that happy note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Network of friends!!

Remember that "new" word from earlier this week. 

"new" word

I'm happy to say that no one in my life currently falls into this category. I don't keep in touch with some friends as much as I would like—I'll blame part of that on my phone, which I can't use to talk to people! But as far as toxic friends, no one fits that category, for which I'm very thankful! But I've been there! 

I wish I had time to reach out more, as some people reach out to me! I got a phone call yesterday that made me smile! I couldn't take the call then, but I called them back when I was in the car. My cell phone works in the car but not at my house. Sigh.....

When I saw the caller ID, I thought she was calling to say she "stole" those items from the thrift shop! She's a quilter, an avid reader, a lover of jigsaw puzzles, and lives very close by! No, she was not the one who stole those items from me (OK, so I'm being dramatic. I was stalling to buy them, and I should know that you can't wait at the thrift shop.) 

Instead, we had a great chat about books (we read many of the same genres) and an offer for some of the Dowdle puzzles she no longer wanted. I'm away this week, but we must get together when I return. 

Thanks for the call! It was great to touch base!

And then someone else let me know that the Gordie Howe International Bridge is connected. That event happened on June 14. It's incredible how they could start such a massive project from two sides of a river, and everything seemed to fit together like a glove. It boggles my mind that those massive girders just seemed to fall into place without a hitch. Check out this video to see the final connection.

It will be another year before the bridge is open to the public. There is much to do—the roads leading to the bridge aren't complete, and there is paving, lighting, completing the bridge deck, and much more. It's fascinating to watch as this thing comes together. 

Nothing got done on the "to-do" list. In the afternoon, I taught an in-person free-motion quilt class and spent the morning prepping for my UFO session today. 

This was another instance where I felt it necessary to make TWO quilts. They are my Cabin in the Woods quilts, and they are time-consuming, or I'm getting tired of working on them. 

Two Cabin in the Woods quilts

It's been slow progress. Those pictures were taken in January, and I'm still not done with the darn quilts. But I made a good effort yesterday to progress on both of them. I won't share my updated progress until tomorrow, but I'm happy. The UFO Groups don't meet again until September, so I hope to finish them by then. I WANT them off my plate, and I should just continue to work on them so I'm not leaving it until the last minute!

While working, I listened to Harry Potter and finished the book last night. However, I need to relisten to several critical parts I didn't understand. We talked about rereading books yesterday, which I don't usually do. But in this case, I might leave this book for a month or so, reread it, and then move on to the final book. 

I went to visit the new Central Library a couple of weeks ago. It's now called the Hazel McCallion Library, but it'll always be the Central Library to me. It's like being on the farm, where they still refer to property by the original owner's name, not who owns it now. It's hilarious. 

Anyway, the library is AMAZING!!!!  I wish I lived closer because I'd wander over just to sit and contemplate the world. There are so many amazing spaces to work/read in, and the maker space is on the lower level. 

This is the light in the middle of the atrium. It changes color. 

Atrium light in the library

I'll show you more pictures another day, but here's one thing they missed the mark on. Considering this is a library that houses books, it's a biggy. 

The shelves are much lower than previously, so you can see them over the top. Fewer shelves and fewer books, but libraries aren't just about books any longer. So I'm OK with that. 

Lower shelves at the library

If you have crappy knees having to bend down or kneel down to see the titles is a pain. And you have to do that for almost all the books. 

Bending is required to browse the shelves

Then, many books are sideways on the shelves as they are not tall enough to accommodate larger books, making browsing a lot more difficult. Some books won't stand up entirely, so the number of books on the shelf is inefficient—well, not so much inefficient, but they don't move easily. 

Shelves not tall enough to accommodate the books

Perhaps people don't browse the library shelves much and rely on the digital catalog. I love to browse in person. 

Hey, I'm sure loads of you remember the card catalogs and how fun it was to research a book's location! Well, I must go. I have some follow-ups from yesterday, and I think I still owe some slides to the classes from the previous weekend. 

Then, I must get a couple of things off that to-do list. Then I can head downstairs to have fun this afternoon! I need to finish those three items, as the clock is ticking! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Get a library card!

I need to renew my passport which expires in June. I had so much trouble printing out the form -- of course I did! I must have filled the darn thing out 10 times before the stars aligned and the form was printed! So I'll drop it off today. How many hours will I wait? 

I could mail it, but I'd rather know immediately if there is an issue with any part of the application process. 

We had Monday sewing and it's always fun! I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I made progress and that's all that counts. 

So yesterday was a day about books!! I stopped at the library simply for something to do! How sad is that? But the library is a fascinating place and you never know what you're going to find. Plus, it's on my walk. So I started by searching the catalogue -- remember when we had those little index cards? I love those index cards! 

Wait a minute -- there's a brand new catalogue! I knew it was coming, but this is cool. More information about the location of books and well, it's different, but in a good way!! The catalogue online hasn't changed - at least when I check from home, but from the library? WOW!!!

I got a chuckle as the majority of books that I was looking for were only available as AUDIOBOOK or EBOOKS!!! Wow -- and many of them were available only on Hoopla. Hoopla is a library resource that your library has to subscribe to and our library does not seemed to have scrimped on their subscription as we have access to so much on Hoopla. 

There will NEVER be an end to entertainment with a library card! If you don't have one, you should get one!!! 

I listen to audiobooks on my phone, and I'll view ebooks on my iPad. I haven't used my iPad a lot, so I downloaded the app to my iPad. Thankfully, Hoopla syncs between devices so that helps remember what is where. 

Digital resources on the iPad

Here's another chuckle. I was searching for books on Design Space (Cricut's software) and I found 10 books in Hoopla. Eight of them were audiobooks! Hmmm--- how helpful is a software manual in audio format? I'll download one, just to check it out!!! 

Yikes -- one could spend so much time checking out resources. There is only one danger to all this. I am doing this research to learn and then I pass the learning onto my classes. Which I'm OK with. But when the group becomes dependent on ME to do all the research? Hmmmm---- they can Google just as easily as I can! Perhaps, I need to back off or I need to find a happy medium - maybe I need a reward system for those that Google and then experiment? 

The bottom line is that only some of us are curious about things in the world and DRAT - I spotted a book at the library about curiosity. I didn't get it yesterday, but I think I might go back today. It looked like a fun read. Kids are curious - most adults are not. Why is that? We should be asking questions and trying to learn new things by exploring. Perhaps our society is killing that in kids today. Everything is spoon fed, so there's no need for them to learn. 

I think the most important tool that anyone can teach to another person is the ability to learn to learn! I might be failing in that by giving too much help, but I can see the lightbulb turn on for some and that's reward for me! I MUST make sure that everything I pass along is a step forward, but not ALL the steps. I will have to reign myself in on that one! 

While on the Monday call, I was sorting stuff. Well, I was digging out some handwork. I have this small Sue Spargo kit (wool applique) and it's time to get it done. I made a start by also digging out my Sue Spargo book on stitching. 

Supplies for Sue Spargo applique (wool)

She likes to use Eleganza thread (three weights - 3 - 5 - 8) (it's her thread produced by Wonderfil) so I assembled all that I won. It's now all in one bag, which is a huge start. 

My Eleganza thread

After gently chiding others not to go down multiple paths, I was chided to NOT start something new or go down a new path. And I'm not - I already own this! So it's OK if I want to stitch it. I won't have time for weeks to even look at it, so I'm OK with just sorting it out when I can get there. 

I got one more customer quilt done and it's trimmed. It was nice to work on something small for a change! 

Customer quilt - DONE

The next one is loaded on the machine and of course, it's a giant! But I'm working my way through the quilts and soon I can start working on some Quilts of Valour - if I get time. 

The weather was glorious yesterday and I went for a walk. Then when I got home, I had to sit in the backyard and enjoy the sunshine with the girls and the boy! Murphy is getting quite jealous (fed-up) with all the attention the little guy gets. She has become super clingy and loves to WALK right where you are walking. It's very annoying. Lexi? She just wants to be petted. 

Quality time with the boy and one girl

So maybe, on a nice warm day, I can get outside in the gazebo and work on that Sue Spargo project. I hate to waste a beautiful day when we can be outside. When I walked, I only wore a sweatshirt and wasn't cold in the least. I think today will be the same. The weather is crazy and while we're enjoying this warmth, we are going to pay later for the lack of moisture! 

OH -- I should say that I finally finished reading a book last night. I would NOT recommend this book to anyone and I'm not sure how it got on my list. It's called Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor and I have no idea what the point of the book was. It was depressing -- NOTHING in the book went right for the main character - it was one disappointment after another. I swear I was getting depressed while reading it. I didn't want to stop reading it because I thought - it has to have some happiness in it, but it did NOT!!! 

Well, it's time to get moving and get the day started!! Get out

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Decluttering continues

Hmmm --- where was the lightbulb moment last night? We opened the door to Day 10 on the EXIT Game Advent Calendar and figured out what to do with all the pieces (or so we think!). Now, how do we interpret those pieces? We left it - I was going to go back before bed but didn't, so I'll try again today. We may need to look at the clues, but I think we will need all three before this is solved! Some days, the puzzles are tricky, and some are not! 

I stopped at the library the other day to pick up a book for DH and attempt to renew his library card. It's now mandatory that the cards be renewed IN PERSON at least every two years. A "few" people have since moved away and are getting a free ride at our library through the Libby App. I have zero issues with in-person renewal - it should have been mandatory long ago!

I had his identification with me (same address), and they know me, so I could renew his card. While there, I noticed a plan for the new community space outside the library. I'm not sure where those three or four big sitting stones will go, but I didn't look too close. 

The plan for the new community space at the library

While at the library, I asked one of the librarians to help me link the libraries to my Libby app. I could connect to my library and usually one other, but we have access to SIX, and I could never get them to link. Well, I could in the past, but not recently. It took about 15 minutes and TWO librarians to make that happen. 

The app has changed a little bit, and the linking process has changed. I have to log in to each library - I don't remember doing that before. So, one librarian logged into three, and then I sat alone in the corner and managed to log into the other three. More importantly, I now KNOW how to do it. Before, it was random that I made it happen. 

Then I picked up a book from the lightening loan, which means I have 14 days to read it. I'm not getting much reading done at the rate I'm going. And then I had a few other books to pick up as well. 

My haul from the library

I'm feeling generous with my "free" time and thinking I will have loads of time to read when I need to start my research for a big project next year. And yep -- I walked home with all those books. I had my trusty shopping bag with me as I had stopped at the grocery store, but I managed to squeeze a couple of books in the bag and carry the rest in my arms. 

Yesterday, I carried two more storage tubs from the mall. There's no need for a car - you just plan accordingly. 

Here is my Barn Star Sampler quilt. It's sideways on the design wall, but I'm happy to report that the top was together in time for the show and tell. Except that, I forgot to include it in the show and tell! 

Barn Star Sampler

I have to get it off the wall quickly as someone thinks it's a great spot to sleep, and she transfers dirt to things on the wall! I need to make the binding and get some backing together, and then it's done. And that class is a wrap!

MOM - is that for me to mess up?

I'm tackling all the pens and pencils in our house. I have a box full that we don't need/want. Some might not work, but we'll let some enterprising grade school kid figure that out. So now the pencil holder above my cutting table is neat, and I have only what I need, with a couple of extras. 

The pencil holder is neatly organized

I did the same to the pencil holder on my computer desk. It was jammed with stuff, and it's still full (I kept my favorite pens), but the things I won't use are gone. Then I realized that I have TWO trays of writing instruments in the drawer on the other desk, so those are out, and I hope to finish going through them today. Let's say we should never have to purchase a writing instrument for the remainder of our lives!

When cleaning out the stuff on the desk, I found a bulk pack of needles, which meant I needed to clean out the tin where I keep my packs of needles. Many of the elastics had disintegrated, so I got new elastics and bundled them up. 

Sorting packs of needles

And now everything is neat and tidy in there. This will make it easy to find a new needle when needed. 

Tin of sewing machine needles is sorted and tidy

I had to find two presser feet for my EPIC 2 that left the house last week. It was a mystery why they were not with the machine, but then I realized I had pulled them for a demo, and they were with all my presser feet in their separate drawer. So, the drawer's contents are scattered on the table and must be sorted through. I found the two missing feet! 

My Husqvarna Viking presser feet and other small accessories

I laugh every time I see this - there is the HUGE Santa Claus, and look at how big Mrs. Claus is -- she's half his height. Is that intentional? You know what they say -- there's a good woman behind every good man! Or is it - -good things come in small packages? 

Mr and Mrs Claus

OH MY GOSH --- I do not need another pair of mittens, but these ones are stinking cute! I stole the picture from Stitch by Stitch in Kingston. They had an instructor who taught these mittens last week, and I don't usually check their class schedule as they are several hours away, but these mittens are so cute - I might consider driving there to make them. Any takers? If we had enough interest, they would schedule a class for us. I haven't asked, but I'm sure they would. 

Felted mittens (partially completed)

I believe you felt the snowmen or fox, and then you assembled the mittens. So darn cute!!!!

Someone recently talked about new equipment and how we always need more space for our sewing rooms. I had a dream last night that we bought (how -- no memory of buying it) a LARGE house with a very bizarre basement that had lots of industrial-type space in the basement. I HATED the house - where did that dream come from? 

Here's part of my research for my big 2024 project: applique using a digital cutter. This part is becoming second nature, but getting there takes time. It took me almost four hours to get this. Not because I didn't know how, but because I was trying different things each time, I had to learn something new. 

The results of my digital cutting exercise

I am going to conquer this feat (along with the group's participation), and we will learn software, our digital cutters, and our embroidery machine software if we have that available. It's going to be a fun year!

Someone suggested that I post some pictures from the Out of the Box class, and I will do that tomorrow. 

Instead, I'll post a picture of something I embroidered a few months ago. It's all free-standing lace, meaning it was made entirely from thread on the embroidery machine. 

Free-standing lace table runner

Here's a close-up of it. It is not perfect by a long shot - there was a steep learning curve to making this, and I'd like to finish the ends off with the same scallop that's along the sides. So that is in the pile of samples to finish. 

Detail of the stitching on the free-standing lace table runner

I'd like to remake it when there's no pressure to finish it and see if I can't perfect my multi-hooping technique. 

I'm off to spin class this morning, and I had better get moving! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

It's tidy up time!

 Am I the only one experiencing this issue with my phone?? Hello? Is anyone else out there? I submitted a claim yesterday, and we'll see how quickly they move. In the meantime, I will NO LONGER be answering my phone. It's just too frustrating to have a conversation with anyone, and you will have to get in touch by text or e-mail. 

While I didn't get a chance to watch all the pomp and circumstance of the Queen's Jubilee yesterday, I watched some of the replays. I swear that Prince Louis stole the show. His facial expressions were adorable, and they will come back to haunt him (in a cute way) for the rest of his life. But I think the most precious moment was when he turned his face up to the Queen and asked her a question. So sweet, and what a great moment for the Queen to share with her great-grandson. 

It's a shame the Queen won't be able to celebrate in person today, but HEY -- if you think about it, she has been the Queen for longer than I've been alive! I hope she's at home, with her feet in bunny slippers, having a cuppa, and watching the whole thing unfold on TV. Imagine having a job that you can't retire from! WOW!!

As usual, I went for a walk, and I had some errands to do and no time to ride my bike. That is this weekend! I carried two more bags of fabric to Diane's house. On my way, I decided to take a slight detour and vote as it was our provincial election yesterday. 

At the voting station

Then I stopped by Diane's house and dropped off the two bags of fabric (I know -- who votes with two large bags of fabric in their hands?) Then I picked up some scraps and a couple more quilt tops. 

Two more quilt tops done!

Here are the two quilt tops I picked up the day before. 

Two more quilt tops from the previous day

I have to mention that Diane lives very close to me. In the winter, I can see her house, which is on the other side of the forest. However, if I want to get to Diane's house, I have to walk around to the next street. Anyway -- there are days when I think how easy it would be to wing the bags of fabric over the fence and call her to let her know they are there! That's not going to happen, but I think it sometimes. 

Then I was off to the library to pick up a book that I had reserved -- now that my account was free!

Another book to read

Then I walked back home. That took a little over an hour, and I had a wee chat with one of the librarians and looked through the used book sale rack. Some exciting stuff coming up with the library -- just wait for that!

So I got my errands done, AND I walked about 5 KM or something like that. Bottom line - I walked almost 15 KM yesterday. How did that happen? Oh yes --- this also happened yesterday. 

I got to work on that large quilt, but not before I ran into that darn error on the software again. I need to get the new version loaded and find out why this is happening. But all is good - the error came while I was setting up the pattern again. If I didn't tell you what had happened, you would NOT know. 

Error message

As mentioned, the quilt is HUGE. 

Customer quilt

And this is the back of the quilt. Surprisingly the back didn't appear wobbly at all. 

The back of the customer quilt

And then I got this smaller one completed as well. 

Customer quilt - DONE

All the quilts are trimmed and will be delivered today. Some steps got accomplished through the quilting as I walk back and forth a lot when I'm working. 

While it may appear I'm complaining about some quilts I've done, I have learned so much from them. I learned how to repair and fix the problem with the computer, and it has definitely made me a better quilter. So a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have forced me to learn! 

Then this happened. I have lots of containers under the long arm, but it's rather messy. So I decided to straighten it all up and sort the stuff properly. Good grief -- what a mess. 

It started with just one tub, then it went to two, and before I knew it, I had pulled TWELVE tubs from under the long arm and some smaller open ones. 

Sorting the tubs from under the long arm

Eight boxes got pulled from this area and sorted. Four of them went back pretty much as is, and four needed to be further sorted.  

Some tubs are still in the sorting process

Four tubs got pulled from this area. I'm happy to note that there are only FOUR tubs (of eight) left with fabric donated to the community projects. That will still take a very long time to deal with, but at least we are making head roads into getting rid of those tubs of fabric. I'm thrilled and thank Diane from the bottom of my heart for her hard work. 

The other side of the long arm

All this stuff needed to be hauled upstairs or the empty containers put nicely in the furnace room. I'm not entirely done there yet, but I will work on it this afternoon. 

Containers that are no longer needed

And now it's all nice and neatly organized, although I'm missing a couple of labels. My goal is to replace the boxes with plastic tubs as they are emptied. My ultimate goal would be to have NOTHING under the long arm, but that isn't going to happen; but there will soon be empty spots! 

The other side is also super neat and organized. 

Everything is neatly sorted and stored

All the small tubs and open containers except for three got dealt with. This looks so much neater and cleaner, and things are together. It'll be so easy to find something in the future. 

It's nice and tidy under the long arm

This is all that I pulled from those boxes. This stuff needs to find a home, so that will be on the agenda for later today. 

What I would like to do now is create an inventory list of what is in each box. Then it would be super easy to find anything. I"m working on it -- I did that at one point, and I must refind those lists. They are on a clipboard downstairs, and I don't think all the boxes got inventoried. 

The cutting table looked like a disaster. But I had got some bags of scraps from Diane, and I was determined to deal with them. So the quilt tops got put away, and so did ALL the scraps. They are now filed in the appropriate container by color. 

The cutting table is a sorting station

Well, I am determined to make things happen, and then this happened. 

The entrance to the office

Yes -- that is the office. I was looking for a book that I bought several years ago and well, after all this time of shuffling it around, I can't find it. So I decided to go through the boxes in the office. I'll share what I found tomorrow. I did NOT locate the book; however, I could request the book from the library, so I did that. 

I'm not sure how to describe its current state -- a hurricane went through or an obstacle course? It will be too much to deal with in one day, but on my goodness, there is a LOT of stuff that needs to go. I cannot imagine leaving this job to someone else to do, and they would not be thinking pleasant thoughts of me, and this is ONLY one room. So I am determined to get it done. I'm now on a roll, and let's hope that I can keep my motivation and have the time. 

The other thing I accomplished yesterday was to connect my library card to all FIVE libraries that I have access to (digitally). 

As you know, I'm not always the best with technology, and I've tried in the past, but yesterday I succeeded. Yeah!!!!! That meant I could find two more books that I've been looking for, and they are now on hold. 

I'm sure I'll laugh when I find the book I wanted to find yesterday. It's probably in a safe and logical place, but where would that be? 

I know I will have to be ruthless when it comes to all this paper. I know that I will want to look at everything before I throw it away. That's me -- don't try to change me. I sincerely hope that I get faster at it as I go, which I'm sure I will. But it's not so bad that I didn't manage to rifle through almost every box in here. There are two tubs that I didn't get to and ONE box. I doubt it's either of those, but you never know. I might just check or wait for the book to come from the library. 

To make it easier??? I might just grab one box of crap every day and deal with that. If I get energized, I can go through more than one. But it's a bit depressing, although I know I'll feel better if I get it cleaned up. Oh my -- could this actually be happening? 

Don't forget that the Hamilton Quilt show is TODAY and tomorrow. I'm going today, so I'd better get myself organized. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!