Slow and steady and all will be done!

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

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

But onto bigger and better things! 

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

The garage, also known as the sorting spot.

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

The other side of the garage

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

My pile of books for donation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A giant spider web

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

My felted polar bear

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

I went through a lot of bobbins. 

A lot of bobbins got used.

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

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

RIP!!!!!!

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

Studio B in disarray - again!

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

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

Progress on the puzzle

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!

Perspective is important

Oh my --- it's funny how sometimes taking a picture with no reference can throw things out of whack. That's why sometimes I take a picture with my hand/finger in it to show the scale. 

Remember my basket of triangles to be made into HSTs? 

My basket of triangles to make HSTs

Well, this is not a large basket. Have a look. 

The basket is 7" tall.

The basket is only 7" tall. But it's still big enough to house a LOT of those little triangles. 

Perspective or scale, might be a better word, is extremely important and can be used very cleverly. I'm sure you've all seen some of those photos. Here's a link to a Pinterest account if you don't know what I mean. BUT --- don't dally long. Pinterest can be deadly in how much time you spend there, which is why I do NOT use Pinterest. 

 Remember this big ball from the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham? I don't think I posted it, but it won an award for Quilt Creations, and apparently in person, it's spectacular. The center is filled with an inflatable balloon. 

It's called Pride Around the World by Matt Wilding. It looks fun, but how big is it? It's hard to tell if there's nothing around it to compare to. 

Pride Around the World by Matt Wilding

But when you see someone pushing the ball, you realize it's pretty big. It's 2 M in diameter!!! It's quite the sewing feat and looks amazing. 

That ball is big!!!

Here's a short clip of Matt talking about his project. No sound on the videos, but it is closed captioned. 

I had a physio appointment, and I had no car. But I have four bikes in the garage, so it was a no-brainer to pump up the tires on one and away I went. 

My ride to physio

This is my townie - the model for my tattoo! It was pretty grimy and dirty and desperately needs a thorough cleaning. I wasn't sure about the tubes because, when I started to pump them up, I could hear the rubber tubes popping and expanding inside the tires. I took it for a spin down the street to see if they were holding air, and all seemed good. It's 3.7 KM from the house, and the only nasty thing is you have to cross an on-and-off ramp for a major highway. BUT, they changed the light system years ago, and so there are definite gaps in the traffic. It was not an issue. 

I wasn't going to walk that far there and back. Too hot for that, and I didn't really have the time, although I do walk that far in the morning with the girls - I just didn't need a second long walk in the day. 

Now that the tires are pumped up, I need to get out on that bike more often. It's fun. But that bike needs to be cleaned up. I had to wash my hands every time I got on and off because it was so dirty. Even my helmet was filthy! 

As I was puttering in the garage, I also started a sorting line along one side. Hard plastic, metal, wood, etc. If I can do a bit of sorting each day, I'll soon have a load or two to take to the recycling depot. Sometimes, it just takes an intervention to get started. In this case, DH had the car, and I was stuck! Well, I wasn't stuck, but I was NOT going to get an Uber for 3.7 KM. And if I was going to walk, I would have taken the shortcut through the gym parking lot, which cuts off about 1 KM. 

The bike was behind some of the junk, which is why I started sorting as I pulled the bike out!

As for physio? As suspected, my muscles are TIGHT. Hips, glutes, in particular the piriformis, which is a tight little ball. That's likely the issue for the sciatic nerve problem. So I got confirmation on the exercises from the other doctor, plus tips on how to make them happen with good form. And I got some new ones to focus specifically on the piriformis and to stretch out my quads. OMG - my hips are terribly weak! Try doing the clam shell in good form, and I can barely move my hip and instant pain! So it's all about baby steps to try and strengthen and open up those muscles! 

I got both embroidery machines running yesterday. Let's say that those machines are big. I was using the Mega Turnable Hoop, which is quite big. You can stitch out an area that's almost 18" square, so the hoop is larger than that. There is also one for the NEW PFAFF creative icon 3—but I can't remember what it's called. I'd better get that terminology under my belt by Wednesday!

I was afraid the hoops would clash at one point. They came close, but not close enough to touch. And yes -- that foot pedal is on the table for lack of space anywhere else. I don't use the foot pedal for machine embroidery. WAIT -- that's a lie—I do, but I didn't need it for this project. 

Will the hoops collide?

Then I fired up the sewing machine, and I could monitor the hoop positions from where I sat. The rust fabric was in the HUGE hoop, while the black was in a smaller hoop. 

Monitoring the hoop positions on the two embroidery machines

I decided it was time to get that darn rooster block done. Remember the rooster block from Down on the Farm? 

The original rooster block

Remember that some of the grass stalks along the bottom weren't contrasting enough with the grass background? At first, I wasn't going to change it, but after someone commented, I decided to bite the bullet and redo that section. 

The new rooster block

I wasn't going to change the grass in the post area, as you can see it well enough. WAIT --- there's another piece of that dang grass on the right side of the post. So I had to cut a bit more fabric and make that happen. 

The final rooster block

And now the rooster block is done. All that is left is to remake the turtle because his head doesn't contrast well with the water. I may or may not work on that today. 

I managed to get two samples done yesterday. I won't have time to make anything with them, but I have the stitchouts, and that's good enough for the moment. 

A lot of technology was working yesterday, and I managed the two embroidery machines while I sewed on the third one. It is for all the toys on those tables that I am NOT ready to retire! I am having way too much fun, and I don't want to give up those toys, which I would have to do when I retire. Or cough up a lot of cash! 

Having fun with the toys

If anyone in the industry (companies that make tools, fabric, and notions) ever doubts our ability to work on these machines, don't let me hear them say that! We are sophisticated, intelligent, and very smart consumers. We have to be because otherwise, how could we use their products? I once heard an executive of a fabric company poo-poo their consumers about something, and I have never forgotten that. You can never forget who your consumer is and don't underestimate them. We are smarter than you think we are! 

I sat outside for a bit in the afternoon, and Murphy was totally fascinated by something under the deck. Was it a rabbit taunting her? Or a vole? It could have been either, but those rabbits are known to sit under the deck. 

MOM - there's something under the deck - I got this!

Speaking of Murphy, I left her out again last night. I brought her in, and the minute that door closed, she started pacing. So I let her out so we could all get some sleep. I think she barked once at around 10:30, so I brought her in. She seemed agitated by something - i.e., she wasn't sleeping. She didn't like that door closed one bit and ended up going upstairs and plunked herself on the floor where she could hear the waterfall through the open windows, and she didn't budge all night. 

What is going on in her head? 

I also managed my weekly one-hour in the garden! Pulling more weeds and playing Twister on the pond rocks as I attempt to grab all the creeping vine. As if that is ever going to happen, but I need to keep it under control. I could spend more time, but an hour a week works for me. I finally got some of the mulch that has been sitting around for MONTHS spread out. Now that all the electrical junk (old lights and wiring) is gone, it looks so nice. And I broke down and ordered my other item for the backyard from my favorite online store. I could NOT find it in an actual store. 

And after dinner, I worked on the puzzle again. OK -- so it's not as easy as I thought it would be. There are lots of tricky bits, and I doubt I'll get this done by Monday night. You never know! 

Work on the jigsaw puzzle.

Making samples or working on the puzzle? That is the question. 

OK—I'm totally in love with this IG account I started following. More great words of wisdom. Here is one I chose for today. If you want to follow along, it's called Thought.Minds. Very insightful information. 

I would love all their words of wisdom in a book! They are probably in a book somewhere. But I pick the ones I totally agree with and follow, and then I capture others where I could (and want) to do better. I could do better in this area. 

Well, it's time to get moving. There's a lot of sewing to get done today. Actually, that's a lie - it's machine embroidery that needs to be done. A little creative thinking and I can get both machines working on different things, which will speed up the process. And instead of sewing, well, I could work on that jigsaw puzzle! But don't tell anyone!

On that note, I'm out of here. 

Have a super day

Ciao!!!

PS -- in case you are wondering, the next Virtual Retreat is August 29 and 30. I feel like it's been forever since we all had a great chat!!!



















captioned. 

Just an ordinary day! LOL!!!

AHA -- the wasitabands without elastic are yoga waistbands. I should have guessed that, but it's what everyone is wearing to the gym and outside the gym! And yes—buying shorts in the men's department, and even better if they come from the thrift store, probably works as well!!! Thankfully, we have so many choices, we are bound to find something that works for us. 

We have all had those days where we intend to do one thing and something totally different happens. It's kind of like my August - I was supposed to be relaxing the entire month, and well, that wasn't the case. But you know what? That's just how I roll. I'm not a relaxing kind of person. WAIT -- don't get me wrong - I can be a slug in a heartbeat, but I need to be doing something - just not perhaps at every moment. 

If I were to completely retire - would I survive? I'm not sure. I have loads to do, but if I were the one to dictate the schedules 100% - would I be happy? Thankfully, I have friends who take charge of my schedule from time to time to keep me on track. And work does as well. I would be bored out of my mind otherwise, even with all the things I have to do. 

I had some stuff to do in the morning, and then I was ready to go downstairs to start cleaning up the cutting table and get that sewing machine out of the box. DH arrives in the kitchen and asks if I could pick up lunch when I went to the recycling depot. WAIT -- I wasn't exactly planning on going to the recycling depot that moment. I had contemplated doing it today. Then I remembered he was going to be playing golf, and thus I wouldn't have a car. Shoot! 

So I quickly packed the car with easy stuff. I grabbed all the ballast that had been sitting at the curb waiting for the scrap guy to come around, and he never did. So I grabbed some of the crappy outdoor lights and loaded them in the car. I didn't have time to sort things, so I grabbed the big things that didn't need sorting. 

Then I finished packing up the last boxes for my SIL and loaded them in the car since the UPS store is not far from the recycling depot. The UPS store owner knows me from all the quilts I sent to the US, so I get very good service from him. He didn't like the way one box was packed, so we opened it up and added more packing. 

My load of stuff for UPS and the recycling depot

You have to admit there is some satisfaction in tossing this stuff into the bin. Heave ho! 

The white ballasts are now in the bin.

But they will take all the wiring because someone along the way strips the wire to get the copper on the inside. My kind of people. So now I'm going to sort out another load and will take it another day. I don't have time until I'm back from my whirlwind trip. 

I have to say that it is so refreshing to have clutter-free zones in the house. At the end of the day, it takes mere seconds to get things back where they belong. We have a couple of rooms that fit that bill, and there are others in various stages of tidiness. It all works, but the more I clean and tidy, the more I want it clean and tidy. DH hasn't quite subscribed to that agenda. He wants neat, but doesn't know what that means! 

After lunch, I remembered I had purchased a new bra from the lingerie store but never picked it up, and I found out the store was closing. Apparently, they had been trying to contact me at my home number. So I was off on another errand, and at the same time, I was going to stop at the garden shop to get that weeding tool. 

At the lingerie shop, I bought a couple of other bras since they were on sale and I'm stocked up for a long time. I just don't want to add or subtract too many pounds, or they won't fit properly! That's OK - my weight is pretty steady. 

The garden store was a delight to visit, and I hadn't been there in years. Oh my --- look what they sell!

You can buy puzzles at the gardening store.

Yep -- that's a rack of puzzles. The darn things are everywhere! I did not buy a puzzle. 

They also have small needlework kits. I guess this is for the backyard. I mean to do while lounging in the backyard! No kits followed me home. 

Cross stitch and punch needle kits at the garden store.

They had some lovely furniture, and I looked to see if I could find a replacement for my zero-gravity chair, but I didn't find anything I liked. I've thought of this egg chair, but it's so big and, well, I'm not sure I would like it as it would fill the gazebo. So it stayed in the store. 

An egg chair at the garden shop

But yes—did you glimpse that orange bench? 

A beautiful orange bench

It's beautiful, but where would I put that? Actually, I have a spot for that bench. Hmmmmmm

And they also had this orange Adirondack-style chair. It was very comfy, and I contemplated that, but I prefer something I can stretch out in. So no furniture came home with me. 

The orange Adirondack chair

However, something else caught my eye while I was looking at the furniture. Look how beautiful this lawn ornament is! I added it to the collection along the back of the fence. 

My new sunflower garden ornament

And this metal flower as well. 

And a new metal flower for the backyard

They add a bit of color to the backyard. WAIT—did I get the weeding tool? Of course I did. 

The weeding tool and new garden gloves

I also picked up a new pair of garden gloves, so I'm all set to do my gardening clean-up this morning. That weeding tool works amazingly to clean between the boards on the deck. That was one of the reasons I bought it. It wasn't expensive, and I should have bought two, but they only had one. Now to see if it removes those errant weeds along the edges of the gardens and rocks. 

At last I made it downstairs! And I cleaned up several more bags of triangles. Thankfully, a few more held triangles that were no longer on my radar screen. So they got tossed into the scrap bucket. 

Triangles that are too small

I even found a couple that had been sewn together, and those got tossed as well. We all know that with anything, you must set boundaries or guidelines - what do you want to keep, what will you use, etc., and then you need to stick to that. Don't second-guess yourself because someone else does things differently. Make your rules and then stick to them!

Some of the now too-small triangles were sewn.

While I have made inroads into clearing those bags - I'm aiming for at least 4 a day, there are a lot of bags, and this could present a tripping hazard, so while I'm trying to clean the floor (vacuuming), I picked up the bags and put them in a bigger bag to clear the floor. Safety first!!!!

Still a lot of bags of triangles

I got the grass section cut to replace the one I made in the rooster block for Down on the Farm. I was hoping to get that sewn, but that didn't happen. It's on the agenda for today. 

The new grass section for the rooster block

The pile of scrap was exploding out of the box, and the two pet mats got filled and serged shut. 

The pile of scraps

The serger is now on the floor, and the new PFAFF creative icon 3 is sitting on the table with its embroidery unit. I can't wait to sit and play with it today. It's an amazing sewing/embroidery machine with so many cool features. I'll be doing a Facebook Live on it on September 9th, so be sure to mark that in your calendar so you can watch. 

Although I have an appointment with the physio today, I hope to get some serious sample making done. 

I still have so much to clean up - the shed, the garage, and the office; however, I don't have time at this moment. I hope to take two more loads of crap to the recycling depot before winter, and that will make me happy. I have boxes of books to schedule a pick-up and just so many other things. The hardest part of the clean-up is finding places to take things, and now I have enough places to take things that I can focus on clearing it all out, and then I'll have space to deal with what is left. 

While I keep saying I think we have everything dug out from the deep corners of the house, I keep finding other things. However, I think this is it - I honestly think we have hit all the areas at least once. But I notice that it's time to start at the top and go through the closets again, and this time, I need to be even more ruthless than last time. When the drawers don't close properly, it means you have too many clothes. 

While I was placing the new lawn ornaments in the backyard, look who plunked herself down and looked like an ornament. She looks so beautiful in that picture. 

MOM - can I be a lawn ornament? 

She is no longer on the pain/anti-inflammatory meds and seems to be doing just fine. She is still freaked out about staying in the house when we go to bed. If we try to force her to stay in the house, she goes mad and wants to sleep on the leather media chairs, which I don't really want her sleeping on. She's allowed to sleep on the loveseat in the living room, which is bigger and softer. But NO - she wants to sleep in that chair. 

MOM - I need a bigger chair

And last night, I got up at 2:30? and noticed her in Lexi's raised bed. Of course, I disturbed her and then shut the door, and she wasn't happy. The next thing I knew, she made it up the stairs by herself (GASP) and then slept in the bedroom for the remainder of the night. I should pay attention to that saying - let sleeping dogs lie! 

For my downtime last night, after I pulled the machine out of the box, I dug out the next puzzle. OK—I have a stack on the table of what is next, so I just pulled the top one off the pile. This one is doors and should be somewhat easy since it has big patches of bright colors, but there's lots of grey, brown, and black filler on the tops and bottoms of the doors, so I'm sure it won't be super easy. Can I finish it by Monday night? 

The next puzzle

I got this in a recent email. In case you are wondering what I will do with all my HSTs—there are LOADS of blocks you can make with them. Yes - mine are small, but does that matter? Absolutely NOT! And if you add sashing (or not), you can get some cool patterns. I have books just for HSTs, so it won't be difficult to find a pattern. The issue will be the color and value!! And deciding on one! Or two or three! 

As you can probably see, that came from the Quilting Daily people. 

As you know, we get all kinds of crazy things in our feeds, and this one came from "thought.minds" on Instagram. Oh my goodness -- they have so many of these mindsets, or philosophies, or whatever you want to call them, and they are wonderfully illustrated. But this one? This was how my day went yesterday!

Of the 15 included in this set, I think I concurred or followed all of them. Most of them were awesome life lessons; however, there is one I would like to change. I feel like I spend a bit of time on each line, but too much on the longer lines on the left and not enough on the lines on the right. What are they? 

From the left: to criticize, to gossip, to get involved, to encourage, and to help. 

Well, there you have it - another crazy day in my supposedly simple life. How does this happen? It's just me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

But now I must focus and get some major accomplishments under my belt today! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

What's your waistband made of?

OH - it was a slug on the rug kind of day! Well, not exactly. I went to the gym this morning, and instead of using the spin bike, I am trying something else. It's a sideways elliptical - I must check the name because I don't think that is what it's called. 

I do fifteen minutes - it gives me cardio, and you can change your position so while you can stand, you can also do a squat while still moving sideways. OK - that sounds bizarre, but it's challenging, and my legs were rubber after 15 minutes. Well, I didn't think they were too bad, and I stand for 2 minutes, then do the squat for 1. So in the 15 minutes, I don't do much squatting.

Then I spent the next 45 minutes doing some stretching and some of the exercises recommended to strengthen my legs. WOW -- these are just the chair squats, the step up and step down, plus a few core exercises. My legs were tired when I was done; I even got my heart rate up while doing those, and they are SIMPLE. 

The icing on the cake was I also had a massage a couple of hours later, and I was done for the day! 

I needed a good nap, but that wasn't happening because we had a massive rain storm, and the girls weren't too happy, so I got up to be with them. But I did have a better nap later. And I did NOT have enough water throughout the day! 

I feel OK today, but I'm off to meet with Brooke, so perhaps we can work on the arms. My legs don't hurt - they are just tired. 

I also went to the mall for lunch with a friend, and well, we have a new project to work on, but more about that another day! 

I tidied a wee bit in Studio B, and that was it! I was too tired to even start a new puzzle. Let's hope that today is going to be a super productive day.

Here is the mess on my cutting table. There were a lot of scraps from the stitch-and-flip corners on the Down on the Farm quilt, which I have been trying to keep corralled in the scrap bucket at the end of each day or block. But a few other shapes, overcuts, and pieces I miscut have accumulated, and now it's time to deal with them to make the cutting mat usable again. 

The cutting table is a mess.

I even attempted to recut the grass section for the rooster, but it started pouring rain again, and the girls were quite agitated, so I came upstairs to be with them. While DH tries, he is not the comforting parent in our house. As I lay on the loveseat in the living room, I even contemplated moving my jigsaw puzzle table there so I could be with the girls while I worked. 

Hmmm —that's a possibility—there is room. 

I still have the grass fabric to cut for that replacement section, and I hope to get that done today. I don't know if I'll sew it, as I want to start making more samples. I'm now down to five days before I leave, and while that is plenty of time, we all know things can happen, or plans can go awry. 

I sorted through another four or five bags of the triangles that I pulled from that basket. Thankfully, a couple of the bags contained pieces that were way too small to deal with. Let's be realistic - many people wouldn't even touch the triangles that make the 1" finished HSTs. 

Another group of triangles that are too small

So the goal today is to finish cleaning off the cutting table—OK, just half of it. See how quickly that extra stuff accumulated on the other half of the cutting table. I didn't do anything, and BAM—all that stuff appeared! I have two pet mats partially filled, and clearing out the scraps on the cutting table will finish both. Then, once they are serged shut, I can move the serger off that table and set up the new machine. 

Then we'll see how I make out with samples. 

Someone asked me to guess how many HSTs are in that basket. OK - since they are not HSTs, let me guess how many are in that tin I have. Remember this tin? Maybe that is what she asked me. Hey -- it's early!

One tin of completed HSTs that finish at 1"

The one where the little devils are trying to escape out the bottom. How is that even happening? 

How are they even trying to escape?

Hmmm --- how does one even go about guessing? I'm going to use that quilt I shared the other day as a reference. 

A quilt made mostly with HSTs

That's a pretty big quilt, and there isn't much white in it, so it's mostly made of HSTs. They are 1" finished, and I believe she said there were close to 3,300 HSTs in the quilt. That quilt top wouldn't fit in that box, so there can't be 3,000 HSTs in it. I'm going to guess there are 1,000 units in that box. 

I am NOT counting them!

I am going to take one day in September to spend the entire day sewing them and trying to sort them into two groups. You'll have to wait for that - actually, I probably won't share until I've shared it with my Scrap quilt group. 

And yes, sadly, that class is filled, and it only took three days. At this point, I'm not planning on running a second session, UNLESS there is a lot of interest and people didn't get signed up. I will have my material prepped, so I could run it again if there is enough demand. 

If you are still wondering about the other classes, they are listed here, and while I haven't checked yet, I believe there is still plenty of room in all of them. 

OK -- let's talk about shopping for shorts. I live in shorts in the summer, and it's always hard to move to pants at the end of the season. 

I am not a fan of "dressier" shorts that have a waistband like jeans. Aren't most waistbands these days moving to elastic? 

But here are some things to consider. OH -- let me specify that my shorts are probably more athletic-type shorts. And remember how I said I can't stand exposing my neck (no V-necks) or wearing sleeveless tops, but I'm happy as a clam to wear short shorts. Go figure. I do not have long lithe legs, but I like shorter shorts. 

Here's the waistband on one of the shorts I bought for the Camino. And rather than saving them only for my hikes, I've decided to wear them as everyday shorts. I love them because they have a side-seam pocket that fits my cell phone perfectly. And the sides are open and don't adhere to your legs, so on a hot day, they are very cool, which is why I chose them for walking in Spain. 

The waistband on my Camino shorts

But we are here to talk about waistbands. The waistband is wide, which is much more comfortable than a narrow waistband, but then the elastic will roll over and twist as you pull them on and off. And let's face it, none of us has that perfectly flat belly, so you know that waistband is going to roll. So I add an extra line of stitching to help prevent the elastic from twisting, and it works. 

This is my other pair of shorts that I purchased for walking/vacationing, and they also have a wide waistband, but the manufacturer put in a couple of rows of stitching to prevent the elastic from going crazy. They feel good and again, big pockets in the side seam to hold the phone. 

More lines of stitching in the waistband

I would NOT wear either of those to the gym, as the legs are very open, and when you are on the floor doing stretches and such, it probably doesn't give you much privacy! But for walking and standing, they are great. That sounds a bit weird, but trust me - they are not workout shorts - running, yet, but not stretching. 

But when I went shopping for shorts the other day, things have changed. I don't think I mentioned the "new" gear that people are wearing to the gym. I don't have time to chat about that today, but look at the new waistbands. Instead of elastic, which can break down, these shorts are strictly made from fabric - including the waistband. I will admit they are super comfy - no elastic cutting into your waist and they don't really roll down. Although I have not yet worn these shorts. Notice that the waistband is the same color as the shorts. These are good for working out at the gym - the leg is tight. 

Fabric for the waistband - no elastic

Now look at these shorts. Again, these have a looser leg, so they will probably be just for walking, and not for working out at the gym, but look at that waistband. What does that remind you of? 

A waistband on new shorts 

Yep -- that reminds me of maternity pants! The band is stretchy and made of a different fabric. 

I will say they are super comfy. You barely know you have those shorts on! 

There is only one issue with these. You no longer have that elastic at your waist to remind you NOT to have that extra donut!!! However, I have gotten myself into a good routine with food, so that will not be a problem, but it would be easy to grab that extra donut and not feel like you need to pop a button to accommodate your expanded/bloated waistline!!!!

I know -- the silly things that cross my mind! I did buy several shorts as they were on sale, and some of them are for the gym - I have NOT bought new workout wear in MANY years, and I deserve a little treat. I'll still wear my older ones - there is nothing wrong with them, but I was having to do laundry a bit more frequently than I wanted! 

On that note, I'm out of here. I have a date with Brooke, and I don't want to be late!!!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!