Progress on all fronts!

As I was lamenting the loss of my distribution lists with the sewing group, TWO people piped up that they keep theirs in Excel. Of course, both of these people are familiar with Excel from their working days. They were pretty adamant that I should use EXCEL to manage my lists. 

WHAT? I do NOT get that. The issue is: why would I enter the darn lists twice (Outlook and Excel), which would require duplicate management? I already struggle with duplication. Some lists are needed year-round; others are temporary for my ongoing classes, which last about 9 months. Then those short-haul lists are toast. 

However, I may have to resort to that - I can put them all in one spreadsheet with multiple pages. 

But that is not the point. I would have no problem recreating the lists if the AUTOFIL worked. It's just a matter of clicking on the people to recreate the list, but right now, I don't have that luxury. 

Here's another problem with the NEW Outlook. There are Classic and New versions of Outlook, but did you know there are also Corporate and Personal versions? The Corporate version has many more features than the personal. Did you know that you cannot set up an "out of office" notification in the personal version? 

Here's another thought about using Excel. If the data is collected in a format that imports into Excel, then yes, it would be easy to export the information and upload it to the distribution list. One of my lists is actually generated that way, so I'm going to see if I can convert it. But to manually type email addresses in two locations? That's just too much work. I'd rather get a printout of it and manually retype it if the digital one fails. I did NOT have a printout. But I can create a printout!

But here is what the lists currently look like. There is a list of names in this distribution list. However, when I look at the Overview, it shows as ZERO members. 

When I look at the members, the list shows ZERO. 

It's only when I go into EDIT that I can see the emails. And for some reason, my name is first, not alphabetical. And why is the email listed twice, not the name of the person and the email? Because it's not connecting back to the original contact list. GRRRRRR!!!!

New version

You see --- I am not going mad! To add the emails to the list, I have to type the email address where it says Add Recipients. There is NO way to use the contact list to click. This is what it looked like in the classic version. This picture is from the Outlook reference guide. Type a name - a list comes up - you select the names you want and click the Members bar at the bottom. EASY PEASY!!!!

Classic Version

And no need to keep a duplicate in EXCEL. Perhaps if my lists were very long, I might, but in that case, I'd be using a different email service, as Outlook doesn't handle large lists very well. And you could never capture (to my knowledge) the list from Outlook and put it back into Excel. 

So it is not just me. The program changed significantly, and it was released before it was correct. It's a mess, and if I have time today, I'll give Microsoft a call. 

Sorry for the frustration with the technology, but I'm trying to wrap my head around the situation because this is the second time it's happened. But the second time in how many years? And how many distribution lists? I don't think it's that bad. I'm just frustrated that the new tool is pretty useless. 

I got an email from the roofer yesterday saying they can come today to steam out the ice dam. This is going to be interesting. It's not cheap, and we have warm weather today, but I'm not waiting for that block of ice to melt. We have a lot of snow and rain coming, and it's going to take more than one day to melt because it's deep and thick. So I'll pay the price and pump the guy for information. 

I did a bit more work on half-square triangles, but nothing to really chat about. I took the black tray filled with triangle bits and added it to my tray beside the sewing machine. As I sorted through it—yes, one cannot just add it to the tray, I discovered small bits. OK -- I might have saved these bits in the past, but seriously? Can you see the size? 

I think these are too small.

So as I sorted, I eliminated all the small bits. Phew --- that was a nice feeling. Seriously -- the side of the triangles was barely 1½" long --- what was I thinking? All of this went into the scrap pile, and it felt good! I hope I find a lot more like that in the other THREE bins, but I doubt it. 

A pile of very small triangles

I accomplished a lot yesterday. The binding got put on this quilt. I still have not received my little tags, and I must try to track them down today. Since this quilt is going to be given away, I didn't need to put a tag on it. Although I could have. Drat—I should have ordered those tags long ago, but now I suspect the package is lost, as it's been months.  

The binding is on!

This is the quilt top. The center is a panel. I found this fabric in a bucket on top of the bookcases a while back. It went into the retreat bag last September, and now it's done. 

The soccer quilt is complete!

I had loads of fabric, so I used what I could on the back. I still have the cutoffs from that wide border that I'm going to do something with. I had to wait to get the cutoff from the backing before I could proceed with that. It's now in the blue bin. It's not technically a UFO, but I'm counting it as such. 

The back of the soccer quilt

I now have all three of these hot mats complete. 

Three pieced-in-the-hoop hot mats.

I didn't realize that I had sewn the binding on with the sewing machine on the first one. 

Bias binding sewn on by machine

I thought, because it was bias binding, that it would be best to stitch it down by hand! So I hand-stitched two of them. Well, it makes a good example of how you can stitch the bias binding down by hand or by machine, and it looks good either way!

Bias binding stitched by hand

I also added the side pieces to that border. 

One of the two borders is complete.

Now I need to make one more unit like this. And it fits the quilt like a glove! By the way, I must have made an error in EQ8, as I only needed 14 and 2/3 units, not 16 like I thought! 

But that's not all. To get these blocks together as backing, I noticed that four of them still had raw-edge appliqué. 

The blocks for the backing of my Dear Jen quilt

Well, I got three of the four stitched. 

Block One

Block Two

Block Three

Yep --- I was on a tear, and I'm finding that working on these smaller projects is so easy, and with all my free time, well, I can accomplish anything. It also helps that I've been listening to some riveting audiobooks. So much so that I didn't get much sleep last night. Let's just say that I did a bit of cutting last night and am ready to sew today! 

It was a relatively nice afternoon, and I was getting ready to go for my walk. Oh my --- no one was home, and I was feeling sad that the girls were in the house by themselves. So I harnessed them both up and took them, which is extremely rare. 

Of course, Murphy needed to be FIRST, which is a pain because she's so strong. I don't even know why I need to go to the gym to lift weights. Just hanging onto her is a lot of work. And Lexi just ambles along at her pace. 

MOM -- we love to walk with you!

Then there is the unison sniffs. And the non-unison sniffs from both of them. I'm sure if anyone sees me, they are probably saying, "Lady - get a wagon and let them pull you!"

MOM -- wonderful sniffs!

But it was a good walk, and I'm glad I took them. Once Murphy gets out for a bit, she does settle down, but that dog is enthusiastic. 

When I got home, I put them in the backyard, where they romped around with each other like two lunatics!

MOM - it's so much fun to play!

This was the quote in my tea yesterday morning. How true is that --- only I can decide what happens to me and how I let others treat me, or how I treat them. 

Inspirational quote

Shoot, there was one more thing I was going to tell you about the distribution lists, but it has slipped my mind! Not surprising. Ooops -- it was about the roof -- I'll share that nugget tomorrow. 

Have a super per day!!!!

Ciao!!

Never give in!

So here's the thing about the email distribution lists. In the previous version of Outlook, you could type in a name (Elaine) and all the Elaines in my contact list would appear. I could then select the desired people and add them to the distribution list. When I reviewed the updated distribution list, I saw the person's name and their email address. 

Creating the lists was a breeze because I could use autofill and a direct link to my contact list. No chance of getting an incorrect email. 

However, whatever Microsoft did is STUPID. I'm sorry to use that word, but nothing else comes to mind. When you create distribution lists now, you have to TYPE THE ENTIRE email address. Oh yes—the videos show that you can use autofill, but it does NOT work. Trust me -- I've tried it multiple times. The list creation/edit does NOT reference my contact lists, so it won't use autofill. 

And they have to be typed ONE AT A TIME!!!! So what I'm doing is going back to an email I recently sent, copying all the email addresses, and pasting them into a Word document, which I then print - it's one page, so not a big deal. From there, I'm manually retyping the email addresses as I generate the new distribution list. If I look at the list, it shows ONLY the email addresses, with no names attached. 

For the most part, that is OK, but for people like me, my email address is my name. For many others, their email addresses contain elements other than their name, odd spellings, or their husband's name. It's a slow process, but I've recreated two of the eight. 

I was hesitant to go this route because, even though I had entered names into a new list, it still showed ZERO names. However, someone came to my rescue because they were having the same issue with the new list system. If you insert that list into the email (TO, CC, or BCC), all the names come up even though it shows there are zero names in the list. Sigh..............

The only way to review the names is in the EDIT screen, which doesn't make sense. There is no way to view the entire list at once. I took screenshots - I'll share tomorrow, although I'm sure you don't care! I want to know whether this is my ignorance or a new way the program works. 

I will contact Microsoft tomorrow to find out why I can't use autofill and why there isn't a name beside the email, as before. I swear -- if something isn't broken, why are they fixing it?? 

I'm good for the moment, but I have my two big classes this coming weekend, so I'll have to retype 40 to 50 emails per list! Hopefully, Microsoft will have an answer. I also don't understand my contact list. It seems to have changed, and well, I need to investigate that a bit more. 

Anyway -- life goes on!

HEY --- here's something of interest to anyone with an ice dam. When the problem first arose, I wondered who to contact for help. I thought about a roofer, an eaves-trough person, an insurance agent, an engineer, etc. Someone said, "A roofer only deals with shingles; you don't want to contact them." Well, they were WRONG!!! Another friend sent me a link yesterday, and roofing companies use GIANT STEAMERS to blast the ice dam away. 

It doesn't fix the problem, but it removes the dam to prevent water damage. SHOOT -- I wish I had done some research and called the roofer last week, before the water started coming into the house. And now it's a long weekend, so I'll have to wait until Tuesday to do anything. It's NOT an emergency. I've put in a call to my roofer. We are expecting warm temps today and tomorrow, and there might not be much left of the ice dam by the time they can get here, but we need to ensure that the dam is gone because there is still a lot of snow on the roof, and we are expecting a lot of rain this week. 

The roofer with the steamer is NOT a fix, but it can eliminate the snow and ice buildup, and really, that's what I need. If only I had done some research, but alas—we cannot have any regrets—just move on and hope for the best. I'd like a permanent fix, but now that I know I can have a temporary one, I'm good with that. Regardless, I want them to come so I can chat about the situation and discuss how to alleviate the problem when it happens again, as I don't see a complete fix ever happening, unless I rip off my roof and redesign it. I don't think that is going to happen.  

And I really like this roofing company because we had a massive leak in our garage many years ago. Actually, they were here because some shingles had blown off our roof, and I happened to ask about the leak in the garage. You will not believe what the leak was. A SINGLE nail from the eaves trough guy!!!! He put a nail right through the shingles. Once that was fixed, we haven't had a single leak in the garage since!!! 

OK -- those roofer guys are not just pretty faces!! I shall keep my roofer on speed dial from now on. 

So I opened my computer in the morning to submit my Cherrywood Challenge. Tick tock!!!!

The countdown

I still had to write the artist statement and take the pictures. I went outside on the front step to get good pictures in good light. The sun wasn't out, and there were no shadows. I swear I went out three or four times because I'm an idiot! There was dog hair on the close-ups, but I didn't see it until I looked at the photos. One of the two measuring tapes slipped, and I didn't notice it. But this is what I got. You needed measuring tapes to prove that the item was exactly 20" by 20". 

Submission accepted!

I've looked at the other photos online. Oh my—some very good ones, and I don't know if mine is "complex" enough to be accepted. It doesn't matter. But I'm surprised because many took the same route as I did. They didn't depict a story; rather, they depicted the reading. No one wanted to get caught up in copyright issues. 

I'll share it with you in a bit, but not today. 

Well, it was all about half-square triangles yesterday. I trimmed a whole pile, but when I went to bed, there was still a bundle (on the left) that needed trimming. 

Trimming half-square triangles

Since there was no spin class this morning, I decided to continue the trimming. 

Everything is now trimmed.

I'm happy to report that ALL those half-square triangles, including the big pile I generated yesterday, are done!!! I told you that I would get on top of the situation. 

However, when I was looking at the current projects table, guess what I discovered? Yep -- another bag of TINY half-square tringles that need to be trimmed. 

Ooop --- I found another bag to be trimmed!

And I decided to bring some of the triangles that need to be stitched down from Studio U. I may just have a half-square triangle sewing day. There are so many - it's totally crazy. But I'd love to start sewing them together into quilts; however, I sort of want them all sewn first. Am I crazy to even imagine that? There are THOUSANDS more units to make. 

More half-square triangles to sew

The good news is that I completed this row of half-square triangles. While all those half-square triangles were sewn, I still needed to press and trim them. 

One of the two borders is complete.

My system of starting on the left, working to the right, and joining the units as I went worked like a charm. I had to repress the second block, but then I got the logic, and I was able to whip along at a pretty decent pace. 

That's the good news. The bad news? I have to make one more row! I'm going to try to focus on that later today. This week, it's all about prepping for UFO Club, the jacket, and Colour My World classes. And there is a lot of work to be done, but that's all I have on my plate, so I'm good. I just need to stay focused, which I am, and I just putter along at my new speed, and I'm good! 

So DH reads the Globe and Mail, and from time to time, they have reviews of mystery/thriller books. What a tough gig that would be!

I find that when I try to locate the latest book releases, they're hard to find in the library system. So I've been tucking them away to deal with later. Well, this page was from March 2023, and I was able to find all five of these books in ebook or audiobook format. I don't care if I'm a couple of years behind. I'm just glad to find them. And so the reading list just got a wee bit longer!

Adding books to the reading list

But honestly, I'm OK with that. I'm enjoying the time to read, as I was so "busy" before that, even with listening to audiobooks, I didn't have the time. Now I can relax in the evening or whenever and listen/read to books. That's what life and retirement are all about. I'm filling my time, but I'm not going mad! Does that make sense? 

If I look at my calendar, I see two gym appointments, one private class, and three classes this weekend. NOTHING else, and no deadlines beyond those three classes and an ENTIRE week to prepare at my leisure. That is what I call ENJOYING LIFE!!!! Am I being selfish? You bet, and I won't deny or regret any of it!

OK - I caught Murphy on the pond yesterday. I have no idea what is so fascinating. I think she looks guilty, but I doubt that! 

MOM - nothing to see here!

It's Monday Sewing today, and I've got a few things lined up to work on. And amazingly, everything I have to work on is on that Visual To-Do list, in the blue bin for UFO, or related to a class for the weekend. It's funny what a wee bit of focusing can do to make my life so much more relaxed. FOCUS!!!! 

Well, on that note, I'm out of here. It's going to be a busy day. Note, busy does not mean insanity - it just means that I have a plan and I'm not one to sit around. I'm busy dealing with what I deem important (those UFOs), not for others! There is a huge difference. 

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!!

Double Whammy!!!

The good news is that when I looked at my Cherrywood Challenge in the morning, the chalk lines were pretty much gone, so I didn't have to do any further work on it. I trimmed the quilt top, made the two-color binding, and stitched it to the top of the piece. Then I settled in and watched some YouTube videos while hand-stitching the binding in place! 

All that's left is to touch up a few spots with markers where the lighter-colored bobbin thread peeked through during the appliqué process, take three pictures, and then submit the entry. I checked last night and saw a couple of pieces that several others had done and submitted. Oh my!!! So cute. But mine is different, and well, I don't care if it gets in. I'm just happy that I did it and on time!

Then I put all the supplies away, except the entry instructions. I have a spot for all my Cherrywood fabric, but do you think I knew where that was yesterday? So it's on a shelf, and when I remember where the rest of the stuff is, I'll put it all together. 

The leftovers from the Cherrywood Challenge

That was the good news. There are two pieces of bad news, and of course, one of them has to do with technology. I live and breathe by my distribution lists, as they make it easy to send notes to my groups. Since I moved to the new computer, the distribution lists are still on the old one. And when I went to send my emails yesterday, the LISTs are GONE!!!! Yes—it appears there was an update on the old computer, and the way distribution lists are handled is different.

I do NOT understand why everything else can be migrated but not the contact list? Why?

What's even worse is that I BCC everyone on my group emails, so I can't even use an old email to forward anything. And I don't have a printout. I might see if the original version of Outlook is still on the old computer. I have no idea why Microsoft would perform this update without accounting for distribution lists. 

I can print a copy of an email I've sent to each group and retrieve the emails from there, but there is no name associated with them. It's ridiculous. When I tried to recreate a distribution list on the new computer, it accepted the email addresses, but NO names from my contact list. It won't let me use my contact list to create a distribution list. I MUST be doing something incorrectly. 

After I created a list with 17 names and could see them, when I tried to use the list to BCC a note, it said the list was empty. If I put the list in the TO box, it worked. Are you kidding me? I am deathly afraid of using "TO"-it just isn't appropriate. There's a long story behind that fear!

I know you must think I'm a dolt when it comes to technology, but I'm not. I tend to do things the average person wouldn't use, and it drives me mad when things change, and when there isn't an intuitive, logical way to recreate them or to fix them easily. 

Thankfully, with fewer classes, I have fewer distribution lists. If I'm counting correctly, I only have eight, so it's not a huge deal to recreate them, but if I don't do it right, that's a problem. 

So that is an issue I must work on today, but I might hobble along for today and tomorrow and then call Microsoft on Tuesday. But they are sometimes totally useless with their own products. I'll play and see what I can come up with!

The other bad news is the roof. While there was no water leaking in the window, I spotted this in the morning. And the towel did need to be changed at one point, and I'm not sure why. 

The current leak situation

Yep --- the water is now coming in under the shingles on the roof because it can't go anywhere due to the ice dam. Oh, happy day! I took this picture and forwarded it to the engineers, so hopefully they will feel sorry for me and take a better look. I'm not overly worried, since all this drywall has to come down due to past issues. The walls and the ceiling in that room are toast. 

On a positive note, the icicle melted so fast yesterday that it's almost gone. What I need is someone to remove all the snow from that section of the roof, so no more water comes in, but the damage is already done, so what's the point of that? 

It froze last night, so I suspect there is no more damage, and I haven't turned on the lights yet this morning. 

I was on a tear yesterday and got to work on trimming those half-square triangles. I finished all the ones that I had pressed the day before. 

Trimming half-square triangles

Then, because I'm in relax mode these days, I did this. 

The EMPTY container where the half-square triangles resided.

Yes, I emptied that little container and started pressing. 

All the half-square triangles on the ironing surface

And then I kept pressing until all of them were pressed. 

The pressing continues

I didn't get them all trimmed last night, so I will do a few each day. But here's the thing - I am COMMITTED to cleaning up that mess, and it will happen. I CAN & I WILL. Watch me!!!

Half-square triangles to trim

All my trimmed half-square triangles have a home in Studio U. All these containers are chock-a-block full of trimmed units in various sizes, but predominantly 1½". 

Containers of trimmed half-square triangles

There is no risk of running out of these units, as three packed containers above the blue bin still need to be sewn, pressed, and trimmed. Yep -- I was just hoarding them without doing anything with them, and I now know that that is wrong! So I'm planning on getting control of that mess. Baby steps, and I'm making good progress. 

OH -- once I send in the submission form for the Cherrywood Challenge, I can officially remove one more item from the Visual To-Do list. It's a pretty exciting thing to do, and I'm loving that whole setup!

Looking at what's coming up next weekend, the items that need to be completed are now sitting out and ready for me to tackle this week. And I have the entire week to get them done, including today! Where did all this time come from? No more rushing around at the last minute, no more only completing part of what I said I would do. I love it!!!

And I'm slowly making progress on this border. You can't really tell the progress because I keep the one end rolled up so it'll fit on that mini design board. But all the seams are being twirled on the back, and I hope I have enough white fabric. It's amazing, as you would think white is white, but it's not. So I must have a peek at that, and it may require a trip to the fabric store, as I've already pulled what works from my stash. 

Progress on the border

As you know, I'm an avid reader, and while I'm open to reading most genres, I love mysteries and thrillers the best. I've been ripping through the audiobooks like mad as I get some sewing done. I just finished reading "Everyone Here is Lying" by Shari Lapena. 

OH OH OH ---- All I can say is that Shari has a very twisted mind. She used to be a lawyer and an English teacher, but now lives on a farm somewhere in Ontario and writes full-time. I wonder if she's afraid to turn off the lights at night? 

True to the book's title, everyone was lying in the book, and I won't spoil it for anyone who wants to read it, but it's warped. Right down to the very last word in the book --- WARPED!!! And evil!!! But good! 

Her books are disturbing because, for the most part, they are about secrets that best friends or family members are keeping from one another. And well, she must spend days walking around the farm dreaming up new evils. 

I think this quote by Ruth Ware (also a great author) is so fitting: 

I got that title from the book list of the top ten most circulated books in Canadian libraries, and another one of her books was on the list - "What have you done?", which I'm reading now. I rarely read back-to-back books by the same author, but it just happened to come in my Libby App, so I'm reading it. 

I see my sleep score is back to normal, and I got 1 hour and 24 minutes of deep sleep! I'm excited that I have the entire day (almost) ahead of me to do whatever I want! I might even crack open a jigsaw puzzle. 

Just turned on the light, and I see the paint is bubbling just below where the ceiling meets the wall, and about two feet down in the corner. Sigh...............   You can actually see that starting in the photo I posted from yesterday. It's just more pronounced now. 

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

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

How well do you know your neighbors?

Wow -- it was so warm yesterday (plus 2) —it was obscene! We had a little bit of snow in the night, so I got that shoveled when I got back from walking the girls. 

So here's a question for you—how well do you know your neighbors? I'm pretty observant, and because I walk daily, I get to see things as they change. Like the neighbor who is now retired because they shovel their own snow rather than have a truck come and do it. 

However, I am not as good as I think I am!! There is one house on our street that has been vacant for several years. A shame, but that's the way it is. The owners had rented out the house, and that was a disaster; much of it had to be redone. The place was painted, and they are currently putting in new floors. I'm not sure what else was done - I never saw the inside. 

So that driveway isn't being shoveled, nor the sidewalk plowed, but with the new sidewalk plow, that's not an issue. 

However, there is another house on our street that is not very good at keeping its property tidy in the wintertime. I mentioned yesterday that there was a plow in there the other night. Was it the city or was it private? That homeowner was outside yesterday while I was shoveling, so I stopped to say hello!! I figured they were away for several months in winter, as many people do. 

OMG -- you will not believe this, but it was the city that plowed his driveway. That was NOT the shocking part of our conversation. He said, "You know, we don't live in the house." WHAT? Yep - they live in BC and come home occasionally because their three kids live in towns nearby. OH - when did you move? I asked. I almost fell over when he said 2017!!!! 

It's hilarious because we saw them frequently enough to believe they lived in the house, but they were only visiting! HOLY!!!!! The blinds are always down in the room over the garage, with several cameras installed, just as they are in our room over the garage. Because of the curve in the street and the house's design, the front door and living room window are not readily visible. 

In case you are wondering why I keep those blinds closed— it's very cold in that room, and my baffle blinds are meant to help keep the heat in, and I don't want the sun damaging the MANY quilts hanging out in that room. 

I had a good laugh. Anyway, Steve is thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather in their "new" home, which I have visited before - the city, not their home. He fishes every day and asked if I would like some salmon. YES please. So later, he brought over some salmon, and I have a new friend who doesn't even live on our street!!!

What a hoot!!!

I also chatted with another neighbor about cycling - he's an avid cyclist and has offered for me to cycle with him and his group in the spring. I don't think I'm ready for that. I need to go out on my own a few times. Anyway, I asked him if any of his friends wanted an indoor trainer. I have one that I need to get rid of. Does anyone close to me know of someone who wants an indoor trainer for their bike? The person he thought of doesn't have room. 

And so I have new phone contacts with my neighbors!! That's what happens when the weather is warm!

Another silly thing that happened when I went to the bank. I had three things that needed to be done, and I was halfway there, when I realized I left my bank card at the house. DRAT!!!! They are NOT going to let me do what I needed to do without a bank card, so I had to walk back. Thank goodness it was a warm day!

I need to be on my toes for the recycling pickup. We have a new company picking it up, and WHOA!!!! They came much earlier than the previous company. Thankfully, our recycling was already out! Oh yes—remember the issue two weeks ago. They didn't pick up on the right day, and I had to run to get the cart out in time. Now they pick up earlier in the day. Hopefully, all will be worked out in the next couple of weeks. 

The new recycling company

By the way, the street looks less snowy this morning because of the warm weather, and in just ONE day!

I also stopped at the thrift store since it was Senior's Day. Oh boy -- the craft books have been relegated to the bottom shelf. And it was mostly puzzle books. Why don't they have a separate section for puzzle books and one for crafts? Anyway -- I didn't find anything exciting, but I managed to snag some yarn (I know!) and a couple of jigsaw puzzles. Sigh...................

The craft books are on the bottom shelf.

Before I had left, I had the embroidery machine all set up and ready to go. I went for my walk, came back, and pressed Start. Since I had to use a very large hoop, I ensured my chair was well out of the way. I'm happy with the results, though two things kept it from being perfect. One thing was a small error on my part, but it's a good lesson I'll share with my embroidery group. The other was a piecing error that would have been hard to fix. But if you look at it, you may or may not notice. Perhaps only the most observant would, and since that's no longer me - I'm OK with it!!! 

Lots of room for the embroidery hoop

I still have several UFOs to work on before our session this coming Sunday, so I madly pulled out some fabric and started cutting. I will have to put my scrappy half-square triangles on hold, because I now have to make a TON of them for this project. I don't think I'll get it finished for Sunday, but at least I'm making a huge effort, and that is all that counts. Let's just say that my motivation was because I put this project on the UFO list. If it were left up to me, the fabric would still be in the stash room! Making commitments and putting them on a list rule. It's how I roll. So that's how I will continue to work. 

Using the projection system on the PFAFF creative icon 2 makes sewing the half-square triangles a breeze. No marking lines!!!! 

Using the projection system to sew half-square triangles

And I have one small section done. It took me forever in EQ8 to design that block the correct way, but I needed to do that so I would know how many squares of each color to cut. The worst part is over, I think, and I can sit and sew some of those units each day. 

Making blocks from half-square triangles

Oh -- as for the progress on the Cherrywood Challenge, I finished all the machine embroidery, so that was good. Today, it's some hand stitching, and then I start the quilting. I'm on track and giving myself three days to do the quilting, since it will be a mix of hand and machine quilting. Then trim and bind and take pictures! While I'm at spin class this morning, I'll work out the logistics of the stitching. 

Last night, as I settled into my chair to read, look what happened. I was having some yogurt as a snack, and there was one yogurt container and two dogs. Do you think they are trying to tell me something? 

MOM -- Can I lick the container? It's for ME!!!!!

When they realized there was nothing for them, they decided to "fight" each other. 

MOM - SHE ruins everything!!!

And now that I've moved the large quilt back onto the living room floor, Lexi has claimed it as a sleeping place, a place she's used for years before I moved the quilt. I don't even remember why I moved it into the family room. But last night, Lexi got up for something, and guess who just plunked herself down? Lexi was beside herself, and I had to get up to shoo Murphy away. Those two are like toddlers whenever I try to get myself organized to read in the evening. It takes a long time for everyone to get settled, and then I can have some peace and quiet. 

But you can't deny that they are a hoot to watch. 

Well, I'm off to spin class today. I debated going because my knee was so sore yesterday. I think it was the worst it's ever been. Stiff and quite painful, but it seems to be OK today. Perhaps I'll take it easy! And I can't wait to get outside and see if the car's windshield needs scraping. That's a good warmup before going to the gym - it sure gets my blood going. And that is a story for another day!!!

OH MY GOSH -- I just checked my messages, and I got one from M. Wait until you see what she has asked me to do for the wedding. ACK!!!!!!

And on that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!

What's in your fridge?

It's so nice to have time without a looming deadline! I have loads to do, but with no deadline, I had a great visit with my colleague yesterday. Of course, that put me behind with the day's schedule, and only ONE piece of paperwork disappeared, so this morning will be devoted to paperwork. 

However, loads still got accomplished once she left. I'm still working on the cutting table, which is like a revolving door. Something might get placed there, and it's gone within a day or two. This is its current state. 

The current state of the cutting table

I can easily work there if I need to do some cutting. Right now, it's more about tidying, and for whatever reason, I'm ready to tackle those ridiculous little jobs that have sat forever. I've been prepping them for the retreat, along with the necessary feet, thread, and other supplies. That dedicated time will force me to work on and finish them. 

I still have the problem area on the floor that I need to tackle. However, there is little there, and I've also been pulling from the current project table. Oh my --- wouldn't it be nice if I also got that table under control? And there was an overflowing tub under the table, which I looked at yesterday. Imagine if these last three problem areas were resolved? 

If I cannot tackle some of the projects soon, I will find a home for them on a shelf, which I haven't done, so that is good. And I know that as soon as those three areas are finished, I'll find something else to further refine. And I'm OK with that. But it sure makes you think about the quantity of stuff you have and how much time you want to spend managing it! 

Kudos to those who don't start another project until the current one is done! They would have NONE of this to deal with! 

Speaking of messes, I talked to someone yesterday who is helping a hoarder clean. I saw only a tiny part of the problem, but OMG --- these people have lived in this house for 18 months, and it looks like a garage dump! And from the sounds of it, it smells that way as well. It sounds like the people living in the house have severe mental health issues, and there is little desire to improve. I mean -- how can you amass so much junk and garbage in 18 months? 

After that conversation, it made me look at my trouble spots and want to run into the office and throw everything in the garbage! At least my stuff is clean, dry, and odor free! And it was mentioned that she removed THREE bags of "garbage" from the fridge! Seriously? I could never understand that -- my mom, who is a hoarder, is the same way. The refrigerator is PACKED -- but with what? 

We couldn't even fill one garbage bag from what's in our fridge. Although I did remove three things that needed to be tossed. There are a few bottles in the door that I should look at, as well. DH has an issue with condiment bottles and likes to keep them, but seriously? OH -- he's away; I should go through them all. 

My fridge

I decided to tackle the suitcase from last week. I won't need my serger samples for a while, so they are all neatly packed back in the tub. The key is to remember that they are in the tub and where I've stored it! It's under the long arm! By writing that down, I probably won't forget! I have so much more that I want to make with the serger, and well, that's on a list! 

Filling the tub with serger samples

The samples I will need when I go to Kingston are in the suitcase. Not all of them, but from what I used last week. DH is away for part of this week, and I told him he's fortunate that when he goes on a trip, all he needs to pack is his laptop!

Filling the suitcase with garment samples

And my monsters, which I will need later on, are also tucked in the suitcase. 

The monster mash!

Even though I started this quilt later in the day, I got it done. It's the Butterfly Quilt from Tula Pink, which belongs to a customer and quilted up beautifully. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The next quilt is loaded on the long arm. It will be tight to get all the quilts done that I promised before I go on retreat, but each one is scheduled, and as long as I have no more delays, I'll be good. 

When I get in the tidy-up mode, I go wild! It was time to get those picture/history quilt books off the table and back onto the shelf. I'm not halfway through sorting those book types out of the rest, and I've already got TWO shelves full! I knew I had a lot and some fantastic quilts! 

Sorting the books

I found a duplicate! Of course, I expect to find a few more, and I will get a library app to scan them and avoid duplicates in the future. If anyone desires picture books of older quilts, the duplicate is up for grabs. 

A duplicate book 

Those girls are quite the characters. They are just crazy and can't help themselves when showing off. 

MOM -- are you watching us "fight"

And then they look all innocent and sweet. 

MOM -- we LOVE you! We are GOOD dogs!

So I took pictures of one of the pouches, and when I went to take pictures of the second one, I couldn't find it. However, I just remembered where I put it, so you will get pictures of both tomorrow, as both are quite different. So bear with me one more day. 

Murphy's ball has been missing for quite some time, and it may have to go missing again. She is totally obsessed with the darn thing. She is pretty clever, and notice how it conveniently rolled within my reach so I could throw it for her? 

Let's play ball!

Oh, Murphy! 

Good grief -- for whatever reason, that triggers a memory of a dream I had last night. Walking in an urban area, I saw a zip line from one house to an apartment building across a busy street. They were ferrying big dogs in a basket over that line! Now why would I dream about that? 

I'm reading a book by Nicole Lundrigan called The Substitute. I think I found it in the suspense/thriller section. It's creepy, and I didn't want to read it once I started it. I read some of the online reviews, and their comments intrigued me. I still have several hours to go, but I laughed when one of the reviews said she didn't like seeing the "c" word (a bad four-letter word). What about the animal cruelty (both described and implied)? That's a whole lot more disturbing than a word. 

It's read by two different people (I think), but there's one character in the book that we have NO IDEA who they are. As I said, it's very disturbing and creepy. And apparently, we have to wait until practically the end to understand the connection between the two stories. I keep guessing, but the reviews said they didn't figure it out until the last page. 

What is very scary is that the characters are believable, which frightens me because one is a psychological killer! With ZERO emotion! 

Hm.........................

Well, I'm off to walk the girls and then get to work!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!