Is your smartphone a slot machine?

Taking my computer out of sleep mode was a good thing. Before I knew it, the syncing had finished, and my folders in the Classic Version of Outlook now have email in them!!! I must get busy and start deleting and resorting what's in there. I don't want to have to go through that again. 

And the program is no longer frozen. It wouldn't allow me to do anything while the syncing process was happening, so that is one positive thing that happened!!!

I went to the post office to check on my missing parcel, and they couldn't find the number in their tracking system. I knew that since I had also tried. But I did learn something - there is a GLOBAL tracking system, and it will track parcels coming from other countries, which happens a lot these days. It contains the same information as the one the company gave me. It seems that the package was delivered on February 7. 

The tracking history of my missing package

The information looks very sketchy and not detailed at all. You would think that when it hit Canada Post, it would say so. And it keeps saying France, not Canada. It started in France, and it should end up in Canada. I called the number the post office person gave me, but when I listened to the messages, it basically said the tracking number I was looking for wasn't found, and there were five reasons why. If the computer can't find it, I doubt a person will. I sent a note back to the original company to ask what the next steps are—do I reorder? Will they give me the new ones at the same price as the old ones? 

I am NOT good with follow-up, and here I am with multiple situations that require constant follow-up. Sigh............ I still have a couple of other things (as mentioned yesterday) that I need to find solutions to, but I dare not overstretch my time on follow-up. I need to wait for a resolution to at least one issue before I can move on. 

I did not take the girls for a walk in the morning. It was hovering around freezing, and the sidewalks and the streets - at least my street was covered in ice. I was not taking chances, so they were not happy, but I walked them in the afternoon. 

It was a very weird day because it was very foggy. This was on the way to the mall, and the mall is very visible from this distance, but yesterday? You could see nothing! It's very foggy again today and is supposed to hit a high of 15 by this afternoon, but it's cloudy! 

The mall is just a short distance away and lost in the fog.

 

It's amazing how many little errands one has in a day. I had some old eyeglasses that I rounded up and dropped off at a drop-off in the mall while I went to the post office, which is also in the mall. I learned that, yes, the little post office near me is closed permanently! 

I managed to empty a few more folders. I would love to clear up all the folders that are sitting in three piles on the floor so I can find some new paper to throw away. Can you believe I still have this brochure from the very first quilter's retreat house I went to in 2006? Quilter's Mis Bee Haven --- how many of you remember that place? It was small compared to some of the houses we go to now, but so many memories!!! This brochure is now in the recycling bin.

Brochure from Quilter's Mis Bee Haven

I found receipts from years ago, and can you tell me why I kept a receipt from Gymboree to buy clothes? By the way -- it's dated November 9 or September 11, 1996. Good grief --- I am my own worst enemy in this decluttering thing. I allowed this to happen. 

A thirty-year-old receipt!

But there is no time to beat myself up -- I can do the happy dance, realizing that I've made the decision to get this mess cleaned up, and the more I do, the easier it becomes. I will get it done. 

Speaking of decluttering, you know that one technique the professional organizers use is to grab something and ask you if you really need it? They ask questions like, "Why are you keeping this? What will you do with it?", etc. I once hired a professional organizer, and we did some of that. Still, obviously not nearly enough, because I didn't learn from it, and she developed this filing system for me that was totally useless. I think that was the case because I didn't know what I wanted and couldn't communicate it to her. 

Anyway, as I was reading Smartphone Nation yesterday, something similar came up. I think it's common knowledge that most of what comes through on social media these days is questionable content, since people and companies are just in it to earn money and don't care about the messages we get. We are targeted with all kinds of stuff, and we continue to seek out NEW experiences on our phones. The author equates the addiction to scrolling or refreshing to see what just came in with a SLOT MACHINE in a casino. 

While I totally see the comparisons, I had never thought of it that way. But yes -- those that scroll have a one-armed bandit in front of them called a smartphone. And they don't even know it! It's passive behavior and extremely scary. 

OK -- so here's the deal. Just like you declutter your house and we all need someone to hold out the things we want to keep, what if you scrolled through your phone with someone at your side to see what you are looking at? Would you be embarrassed/upset if someone saw what you are looking at? What if it was your grandchild watching you, your children, your partner, a total stranger? That's a bit mind-blowing, but imagine! What would they say? What do the things you look at say about you? 

The premise of that in the book was more for you, as a parent, to sit with your child, once a week, and see what they are scrolling through -- you'd have to start at an early age and then ask questions --- why do you watch these posts, what makes you feel good or bad about them. Too much content directed at children is extremely damaging, involving suicide, hate, bullying, sex, and violence. That's very scary!!! 

I'm afraid that if someone sat down to watch my weekly scrolling, they would be bored before it even started. I follow Max, the 10-year-old fashion prodigy; a farmer who talks about sprayer equipment (I have no idea why that one, but it's interesting); a couple from Wales renovating an old house; and the young couple from Vancouver who are rebuilding their house. I don't watch anyone else, and after this book, I do NOT stop on reels. I'm cured. I take a quick swipe up to see if any family members have posted something, and I'm done! I check in on Facebook and IG about three times a day. In total, I might be on there for 10 minutes all day! I may not check my phone for messages until 9 or 10 AM. 

I'm also not a good candidate for watching anything on a screen. It's taken me an entire week to finish watching two 60-minute educational videos. My time is precious to me, and I'm not wasting it on some addiction to a screen where people are making money off of my time. 

I'm sure there will be more to share as I still have 130 pages or so to finish the book. 

I managed to get some machine embroidery done. I finished the two mug rugs - my plan was to only make one, but I ended up making two. Solidified the learning that way!

Two machine embroidered mug rugs

I now have a very thorough understanding of this process and why it went wonky the first time I made one. I can also remove this from the Visual To-Do list!! The picture is now in the little pouch on the Visual To-Do list. I messed up a bit on the first one and had to put a binding on in sewing mode, and then I got messed up even further by sewing it to the front, requiring me to hand-stitch the binding in place. That's how I managed to finish watching one of the videos. The other video got watched because I wasn't walking the dogs. 

Then I moved on to another machine embroidery project, which I completed as well. I also did some more stitching for my upcoming Facebook Live, and I really need to focus on making a few more samples for that. 

Another machine embroidery project

I got a customer quilt done. The quilt was beautiful to quilt, but it seemed to take forever as the pattern was quite busy. But it's done, and I have an even larger one to put on the machine and get finished by Monday. 

Customer quilt - done!

Of course, the girls had to entertain me while I was eating. 

MOM - are you watching us?

And while we always think that Murphy is the bully, she is not the instigator of these play fights. Yes -- it's that sweet girl Lexi. She wants to play, but only on her terms, and I think Murphy goes down on the floor to make Lexi happy! They are a funny pair to watch. 

Well, I didn't sleep well and thus slept in, so now I must run or my day will be totally off. 

Have a super day!!!  (happy scrolling!!!!)

Ciao!!!

A needle in a haystack

No dreams, and if there were, I don't remember them. 

Yep - at this rate, I might get one or two things off that table by Christmas! I only finished the third of those three small projects - that's it! And I didn't do much else either, but that's OK because I stopped to chat with a neighbor about dogs on my walk, had a snooze, and read a bit, plus DH and I went to his golf club for Thanksgiving lunch. No need to mess up the kitchen! It was great, and I didn't feel like I overate, but I didn't need dinner last night, and I'm still not hungry. It's that darn turkey!!! 

But something very bizarre happened in Studio B. You know, everyone talks about finding a needle in a haystack; well, I did! Yep --- I found something I never thought I'd find, and it's so tiny that the chances of it happening, and when it did, well, that's a flipping miracle. 

And NO - it was not the missing templates. 

As I was finishing up my mini project, it called for adding blush to the face. As I was out walking the dogs, I remembered that years ago, I had a small stencil brush and a tube of paint that I used to add blush to faces. I know that it's in a foldover top zippered plastic bag. I had totally forgotten about that, and the last time I used it would be years ago! 

So where the heck could that be? 

As I was out in the afternoon, I remembered a box of similar projects, and perhaps it was in there. When I got home, I dug that box out. 

A box of ornament kits

OH MY -- I should not have opened that box because I found a TON of things that are partially started, patterns, trims, and doodads to complete these projects, and brand new kits. That is a nightmare waiting to happen when I pull that box out to work on it. At the rate I'm going, it would take a year to complete all the projects in the box, and that's just one box of many in the closet where I found it. At least, I knew exactly where it was! 

I decided to dig everything out of the box in case the little plastic bag I was looking for was somewhere in there. Alas, I did NOT find the stencil bush. I'm going to start a list of lost things because it's driving me crazy! I'm pretty sure the stencil brush is in a project box, which is a bad thing to do. 

BUT as I emptied the tub, guess what I found? Well, you didn't know it was missing because it was part of the third project I'm working on, and I haven't said a word about it. 

The box was filled with kits for candle mats or ornaments. The candle mat I'm working on has these tiny little buttons shaped like a bat. The box where I dug out this project is on the OPPOSITE side of the room, in another storage area. The kit box was open, and when I dug out all the supplies, one of the teeny tiny bat buttons was missing. 

So when I found the teeny tiny bat button at the bottom of that tub, it was a miracle! That container must have originally been in the bigger box, and when I moved it out, that button fell out. But what are the chances of finding that little thing, and at the very moment when I was working on the project where it came from? Yep -- if that isn't like finding a needle in a haystack, I don't know what is!

The missing bat button

Here's a close-up - that button is tiny!

It's about one inch long

Here's the container where I found the original kit. Not even in the same room. 

The second box of ornament kits

But I have a feeling that I separated the kits - the Halloween and Christmas ones. So help me god - why did I purchase so many? 

More Halloween ornament kits

I think at one point, I made kits to teach this as a class because I found so many supplies. Let's not discuss the logistics of that, and let's call it a day! 

Supplies to make ornaments

I found candle mats that were almost completed. They just need the accessories put on. 

Some projects are partially completed

I found oodles of patterns, including a duplicate, so if anyone wants one of these, it's yours! It's a witch table runner. I don't even know if this company is still around -- Happy Hollow? I think so - I just Googled it and a whole pile of new patterns popped up. I do NOT need another pattern!

Witch table runner - up for grabs

Now that I have found the missing bat button, but not the blush, it's time to audition those buttons, as I had searched through my button box the night before and found two substitutes. 

Option Number One

Option Number Two - the original 

I liked the star buttons that I had found because they were larger. The bat buttons gave the little guy a sleepy appearance. 

So I grabbed my pliers, which were super handy in the drawer with all the beading tools! 

A drawer for beading tools

I snipped off the shanks on the back. That particular tool snips the shanks off flat, which is very nice. It had been missing in action for a while, but when I went through all the beads a while back, I put all the tools in one drawer. As I mentioned yesterday, Studio B is becoming a quilter's haven, except for the missing templates and stencil brush! 

The shanks are completely gone! 

So, minus the blush, which I can add when I find the darn thing, the little candle mat is done! Instead of gluing the trim to the hat, I stitched it on, and next time, I'll hand embroider his mouth, but it's fine! And it looks stinking cute!!!! I debated putting a hanger on it, because what am I supposed to do with a candle mat anyway? It's about eight inches across. 

The 99% completed candle mat

And that brings me to those three boxes that were delivered last week. 

They are from IKEA and are called Helgeo - Decorating rods for table decor. You clamp them to the ends of your table and add decorations. You have to look very closely to see it in this picture. 

The table decorating rod

But here is my Halloween witch hanging on it. I used a clothespin, as that's all I had handy. 

My candle mat is on the decoration rod

Then I added some fall leaves. 

The witch with some fall leaves

Why do I need three? Well, these rods are going to be super handy. If I ever need to embroider something heavy, like a quilt, I can use the rod and a bungee cord or two to take the weight of the quilt off the embroidery arm. When I take pictures of sewing machines for my blog posts, I can drape a fabric/quilt over the rod and get a super background. And when not in use by either of those things, I can put decorations on it! I LOVE it. Thanks to Becky for bringing it to my attention! 

Why three? When I do Facebook Lives or any other event, I can put three on each of the tables I use and very quickly get a nice clean backdrop!!! The pole is quite sturdy, and you can vary its length. They cost $40 at IKEA. 

I'm off to spin class, and that's all the time I have this morning. 

Happy Thanksgiving and have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

The great quilt sort

 Oh, I see I have two leads on used bookstores. I'll check those out later today. Thanks!!! 

Although it's Wednesday, I did NOT go to spin class. I was out late last night, and even though I woke up at the same time, I decided to continue sleeping. And now I'm up—obviously! 

I spoke at the Quilting Corners Quilt Guild in Alliston last night, and the topic was scrap quilts. What a fantastic guild! They produce a lot of quilts, they have a very active community quilt program, and when some work needed to be done to finish those quilts, all the quilts disappeared within seconds into the hands of someone who would finish them and bring them back next month. 

It's a small but very active and mighty guild! I was very impressed. And OH MY—I knew a few guild members and didn't even know it! I got to meet Sally from my Zoom classes. I had dinner with Liz, who used to be in many of my in-person classes (thank you, Liz; it was great to catch up!). I saw Susan and Sandra from other guilds that I belonged to in this area. Wow—it was like homecoming week!

I want to thank ALL the guild members for their fantastic welcome. I've never received so much positive feedback on my quilts, speaking ability, and presentation. I said THANK YOU many times last night! Thanks again to the Quilting Corners Quilt Guild for a wonderful evening. They have a quilt show coming in June 2025. I'm unsure of the date; I'll try to find that out. 

Now, it took a little bit of work to pull that presentation off. The last time I presented the scrap quilt lecture was on Zoom. So as not to forget any quilts, I opened the presentation, and one by one, I pulled them and loaded them in the suitcases. HA!! Can you really take 75 slides and pop them in two suitcases? I think not! There were NOT 75 quilts - some of the pictures were close-ups! 

I ended up with two large suitcases and three large tote bags. Some of the quilts in the presentation are no longer with me, so there could have been more! But that's OK. 

My scrap quilt presentation

But to get all those quilts together, I had to go through all my quilts to find the appropriate ones, resulting in the great quilt sort. Not only did I have to pull for the scrap quilt lecture, but I have another lecture tonight (Zoom) with the Limestone Quilters in Kingston. That topic is Modern Quilts, and well, I have to pull those as I do not have a presentation for Modern Quilts. 

The great quilt sort

Thankfully all the quilts are stored in the spare bedroom, so it wasn't hard to find them. I LOVE having that metal shelf to store the quilts. Well worth the $100. I created piles for each topic and then carried the scrap quilts downstairs to load in the suitcases and others I left upstairs, and I'll deal with them today. I probably have pictures of some of them. I must search for the modern quilt folder today, and others will require photos and then be placed in the presentation. I see lots of physical action today as I sort, refold, and put the quilts back on the shelf! 

But I also found a lost sample. I could not find this darn cushion cover, and imagine my surprise when I moved a quilt and found it there. Now, why is a cushion sample on my shelf of quilts? Only I could have put it there. There is no one else in the house to blame! I even asked my colleagues in the event the item got mixed up with their samples!

My lost cushion cover! 

I'll deal with the "mess" another day. Now that I'm finished with the other presentations, I need to sort and tidy up anyway, as many quilts were thrown in a pile on the bed. Now, they can be sorted into the appropriate categories and put away. As I do that, I need to identify those that will never be chosen for a trunk show and those will go in the giveaway pile. I did that with some of the quilts but never the entire collection. 

I'll do one shelf at a time as it's a LOT of work to refold all the quilts and put them away. 

When I got home last night, I had to unload the car and bring everything into the house. I remember coming home from a trunk show and leaving everything in the car. I also think I left the car unlocked, and that night, someone decided to check out what was in the suitcases. The next day, they were partially opened in the back of the car. Thankfully, nothing was stolen - I was so lucky. If the person had dug deep, there was a couple hundred dollars in one from selling my Tech Tip book. And they could have taken the suitcases! Although if they were on foot, they wouldn't have gotten far quickly. So I always unload the car now and make sure the doors are locked. 

I did sit outside for a bit in the afternoon, as it was a nice day, although a bit chilly. The girls didn't care—they just love it when Mom is outside. 

MOM -- I LOVE you!!!

Murphy - sitting in the dirt

I got a chuckle at the church when the meetings are held. I found this in the washroom! This is what you will need if you don't do those stand-up/sit-down exercises!!! Those exercises make a difference! They really do, so be sure to get doing them. And try to push up with both feet. I have a tendency to use my right foot first when getting up! 

Assistance in the washroom!

There is a lot on the agenda today—I've got a couple of challenge quilts to work on, my homework stuff for the weekend classes, a jacket to make, more writing to do, quilts to quilt, a presentation to assemble, and some paperwork! Remember, this is a full-time job for me; it's way past the point of being a hobby! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Going bananas

OK -- we talked about comments the other day and how the power of suggestion, even in your mind, will trigger things. Well, where did this comment come from? 

The mystery of the internet, for sure! 

I have a favor to ask all of you, particularly those who live close to me or are on the Pony Express. You could always send the items via mail, but I don't want people to incur costs. 

A local group of sewists meets at the library several times a month—maybe even once a week—to make medicine dolls. These dolls help hospitalized children prepare for surgery or other major procedures. I guess all major procedures in a hospital are surgical, but I digress. The medical team will demonstrate using the doll what procedures will happen and where they will be done. The children get to keep the dolls. 

Here is a photo of the dolls this group makes. The one on the right has a hospital gown. How adorable!

Medical dolls

Here are some others. The kids can add faces or clothing using markers. That's one pretty fancy hospital gown—that's for the divas! 

Some of the completed dolls

Anyway, the group needs supplies, and since we are all in the process of decluttering our stashes and sewing stuff, I offered to spread the word. What do they need? 

• Dolls: need fabrics 13" x 15" with the same fabric front and back in flesh tones. Flesh tones in shades from white to black and all shades of brown - probably best with shades of brown. 
• Gowns: need 11" x 10.5" pieces in bright, kid-friendly fabrics. I'm not cutting these to size; I'm donating yardage, and the group can cut themselves. But this is the MINIMUM size needed. NO scraps - they cannot use pieces smaller than listed. 
• Polyester fibrefil: LOTS 
• Note: The dolls are laundered for the safety of the sick children, so the fabric and fiberfill need to be washable. 

If you can help with any of the above, that would be awesome. Guess what I'm doing. I'm going through Diane's stash and looking for brights. I don't think there were any flesh tones or solids, but if you have muslin or other solid or even tone-on-tone flesh-colored fabrics and are close -- please think of this group. I could kick myself because I recently gave away two bags of polyester fiberfill to someone making crochet toys. Oh well --- it is what it is!!!

I know I have pieces in my stash that would be perfect for those gowns. They are too small for pillowcases, but they might work for this. More sorting! 

Thanks for your help. You can email me directly at elainetheriault@gmail.com if you have something to donate. 

And now, onto our regular programming! I have been puttering in Studio B, but the results are not quite as dramatic as the previous day. I have one event later this afternoon, so I can finish something. My goal is to clear off this section of the cutting table. 

Stuff to clear off the cutting table

I've already trimmed and put away several hourglass blocks and half-square triangles I found under the cutting table's debris field. 

The container of hourglass blocks - sorted by size, of course!

Then, when I was in the stash room looking for something, I spotted a roll of tracing paper on a shelf. That went into a bag for Sheridan College. And then I glanced up at this shelf, and OH BOY -- some of that has to go. 

What's on the top shelf?

The top shelf - the ENTIRE top shelf is devoted to wool roving and felting stuff. I haven't touched any of it in years. I'm going to say twenty years. Shame on me! If I get a chance today, I will pull it all down and sort through it. I want to keep some of the roving because I can use it on the embroidery machine. The rest of it will be donated to the college. The felting machine is packed up and ready to go, so if I can do that top shelf, then I think I have everything they can use set aside, and I could make a trip to get it out of the house! Oh, I said I would not do that until the rest of the stuff was dealt with. But opportunity knocks! 

The mystery of things getting lost. I have been looking for my large collection of flower-making templates for several weeks. Do you think I could find them? They were NOT where I thought they were. Then, when looking for something else yesterday, I found the bag of templates. Where? On that cart where my "current" projects are stored. Good grief—there's so much to do and so little time. 

I found the templates but couldn't find the plain napkins I bought at the thrift store for decorative stitching. 

My bag of flower-making templates

No worries about the napkins. Later today, I'll pop into the thrift store and pick up a couple. There are always tons of solid napkins there. 

Also, while in the stash room, I spotted this giant orange clothespin. It's now securing the end of the quilt covering the serger. 

Added bonus to the serger cover

I think getting rid of the fabric in the stash room will be easy. It's all the other crap that has to be addressed, and I'll work through it slowly. But I must accelerate the plan if my goal is to finish in 20 years! I keep saying 20 years - it's just a number! Remember, I'm staying in the house, and if DH can't make the stairs - he's gone! 

I've mentioned this before, but it's crazy. I shopped for bananas yesterday. Why are there so many single ones? Do people pick up a bunch and pull off one, or are those loose bananas in the box? I should email my nephew, who is the assistant manager of a grocery store. I bet he knows. So I buy from the singles. I think they should give us a discount if we purchase single bananas. 

Lots of single bananas

Several days ago, we had the largest snowfall we've had all winter. And this is how the girls handle it. They are so different—just like DH and me!

Murphy is out there laying in the snow with her bare tummy and embracing it. 

Snow, snow, beautiful snow

Lexi? She's on the couch!

MOM - I don't want to get my feet wet!

When they went for a walk, Murphy tramped through the snow, so she came in covered in snowballs. 

Mom - I don't feel anything! 

At one point, she had to lie on the snow bank to cool off. 

Mom - I LOVE snow!

Lexi? She walked on the sidewalk to stay clean. It's almost like it's beneath her princess dog status to do anything messy! 

Mom - I'm not walking in the snow! 

Sigh - she's the one who should be tramping through the snow since it doesn't stick to her fur!!!

They have fun together outside, but I wish they would stay longer. Again - Murphy is lying in the snow while Lexi is on guard. That's a switch. 

Mom - I'm doing a good job guarding Murphy while she rests

And I laughed when I saw Murphy trying to bury her bone in the snowbank. Good luck with that, Murphy. At least the snow is gentler on her nose than dirt!

Mom - I NEED to bury this bone

But anything to get covered in snow is right up her alley. 

Moom - can you see me? I'm covered with snow

And who came to visit? Little Bear! OK, so it looks like a white dog. It was on the fence post outside the office window. 

A snow dog!

Can you tell me why Murphy was trying to put my slippers on? She is like a bull in a china shop and has no self-awareness—not about what's on her feet, the length of her leash, or anything else. She just wants to go! 

Mom - what do you mean I'm standing on your slipper

And here was a pretty picture - snow on a giant orange Christmas bauble.

 

Snow on an orange bauble

I now have several glorious free hours ahead of me, and I desperately need to answer and send emails. I also have samples to continue making, more tidying, a quilt to quilt, and potentially a little sewing. It will be a whirlwind day, but I'm much more in control, which makes me much more productive!

Let me know if you can help with the fabrics and fiberfill. The group and the hospitalized children would certainly appreciate it!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!