Teach the World to Sew Day!!!

Let's hurry up and WAIT!!! It was one of those crazy days with highs and lows. 

The low was that Dad didn't get his surgery, and now there's a possibility they may not operate. What is frustrating is that my brother tried to follow up with the doctor (on a Saturday!), and remember, this hospital is 1.5 hours away, so it's not like he can just walk in and ask. So all done on the phone. They would NOT speak to him—he is the son; they only wanted to talk to the spouse. 

OK -- I totally get that - privacy and all that. But my Mom is useless (sorry to be blunt) about stuff like this. Although we have said her mind is sharp (not so much any longer), she has NEVER made decisions on her own. She has always waited for Stan (my dad) to help her. 

She doesn't know how to ask questions, and if the doctor said, "We are going to do X," she wouldn't question it. Just say OK. My Monday sewing friends have since given me loads of suggestions to get over that situation, so I will pass that information along to my brother. 

So between my brother and Mom, they found out he did not have surgery and may not get surgery. I doubt we'll get a better answer today, since it's Sunday, and we'll likely have to wait until next week. Well, I'm prepared to go, but at this point, there's no point! 

I talked to Mom last night, and she thinks she's fine staying where she is. I could kill her! Let's just wait until Stan gets home. Sigh....................

I really don't want to go out until Dad is closer to home (local hospital), and hopefully by Monday, we'll know more. 

So it's a waiting game! 

First - I want to thank my friend (she knows who she is!) once again for the suggestion to go downtown BEFORE my class and do the class there. What a BRILLIANT idea, and so early (8 AM), I left the house to head downtown. I quickly found a parking space ($10 for the entire day - a great deal) and walked to the Michaels store. 

Michaels on John Street - Toronto

OH MY --- it's hilarious to see a huge Michaels store downtown. But that place was hopping the entire day!! The store is on three levels. If you know downtown Toronto, it's on the corner of Richmond and John Street. I think it used to be a Chapters? 

Inside the Michaels

Multilevel Michaels

I met my contact (Assistant Store Manager), and she whisked me to the classroom, and I quickly got set up and hotspotted to the internet through my phone. I did the scrap session, and it was great!!! Thank you to Michaels for accommodating me!!! I had to laugh because I was sitting in the room and POOF - the lights went out. It was on a timer of about 10 minutes, and because I was sitting, it would go out. I had to fling my left arm out to turn it back on!

I was a little "concerned" about the scrap presentation. My concern was: does the flow work? Am I presenting the material logically? These sessions are NOT just about making scrap quilts. They are about understanding how to deal with scraps, so THEN you can make scrap quilts. I think it went well, and a lot of people were on the call. Everything seems good, and I need to do the follow-up this morning. 

Once that was done, I started to get the room ready for our Teach The World to Sew Day. I had to assemble this giant banner. I love going to these events as most times, you never know what to expect. No instructions, but I'm pretty handy with an Allen key, so I figured it out. 

The Teach the World to Sew Day banner

Then I set up the ten Singer sewing machines, and I was ready!

The sewing machines are set, and we are ready to sew.

We had room for 9 people in each of two sessions. Imagine my surprise when our top North American executive walked into the room! Yikes!!!! Did anyone know she was coming? I certainly did not! I like Maureen, and we get along just fine. 

That reminds me of one of the first times I did a presentation for a Husqvarna Viking dealer. I was out in BC, and a former educator, who is EXTREMELY creative and did loads of amazing stuff in the past, appeared in the audience! OH!!!! But all is good—no need to get flapped because of who they are. Keep doing your job, and all will be fine! However, there was a wee SNAFU, and I'll share in a second. 

We didn't have as many signed up for the second session, but I was talking to M and Yagana two days ago, and they mentioned they would be downtown on Saturday. I said, I'm also downtown at Michaels, and why don't they come and do the class. So they did, along with a third friend. That class ended up FULL, and we had to turn one person away because they came in quite late. We had room for two in the earlier session. That was an excellent turnout!!!!!

Chelsey, M, and Yagana

And here they are with their eyeglass cases!!!! Great job!!!!! 

Yagana, M, Chelsey

As I was working (prepping) on Friday, I was shoving things into my tote bag so I would be ready, and everything was fine. I remembered paper scissors (to open boxes), fabric scissors to cut fabric, snips (I have a huge stack), pins, and so much more. Everything was good, and as the day went on, everything worked out just fine. 

However, when I mentioned I had a small iron with me, Maureen looked at it and said, "Oh - this would have been a great opportunity to showcase the Singer mini-iron!" 

OH MY GOSH -- I completely forgot about the iron. I thought of taking an iron at the last minute (and thank goodness I did - the project was so much better once it was pressed). However, I grabbed the "other" brand that was sitting on my paper piecing table. 

My mini-Singer iron is in the box of tools for my Momento. 

My Singer Mini-iron hides in the box of Singer Momento tools.

When I got home, I dug out the Singer iron, and I will use ONLY that iron going forward!! 

My Singer Mini-Iron!!!

I felt a wee bit bad about that situation, but hey—life happens. I told her I had a family emergency and that cut into my prep time, and I totally forgot about the Singer iron. She was good with that! At least that's what she said. I let my boss know what happened, and then there are no secrets, and life is just fine! 

I try to be as transparent with people as I possibly can, and if they don't like it - well, they can fire me. Which I know they won't do. 

My cousin lives just down the street from the Michaels - I drove past her building, but I was tired and had work to get home to prep for THREE Zoom classes today. Two are done, and the third can go as-is, but I want to swap a couple of pictures. 

The second scrap class is pretty full! I checked the registration two days ago, and two new people signed up since I sent out the welcome emails. So I sent the welcome emails to those two people and thought I was done. Well, I checked this morning, and SEVEN more people signed up, so I had to quickly add them to the main list and then resend what I had sent a couple of days ago. Admin sucks!!!!

But you know what? It's all done! 

Wait -- I forgot to tell you the best part about the day. I had a helper with me for the class, and Camryn was AMAZING. As you can tell from the photo, she is young, and she knows how to sew!!! We had a few broken needles and unthreaded machines, and she was a HUGE help. I'm not sure I could have done it all on my own. I MUST send the store manager a glowing report, because I was super impressed. 

Myself and Camryn

OH GOSH  - you can see the offending iron in this picture!

They have quite the fabric selection at this store - stuff that I haven't seen elsewhere, and apparently there are lots of cosplay people in the area, and where the heck else are you going to find fabric in downtown Toronto? 

Let me tell you that teaching those two classes was an eye-opener, and it also humbled me! And I take my natural ability to sew a straight seam for granted! Some of the people had sewed back in the home ec days, but many had not sewed much. Regulating the speed was an issue, especially through the thick layers of the final seam. So the next time I am trying to teach someone to sew, I must remember that I've been sewing for over 50 years! And it comes naturally to me. 

For others, especially if they are new, it's not so easy! We all managed just fine and had many laughs together. It was a fun day, and Camryn and I got MANY thank-yous from the attendees. I got a message from M, "great teacher," so that makes me proud of her! By the way, the three of them did a pretty good job! 

And yes, Maureen also thanked me, but I will never forget the iron incident. The next time I see her, I will whip that Singer Mini Iron out of my pocket!!! 

Well, on that note, I'm off. I have dogs to walk and a cup of tea to make. I haven't realized how much I enjoy that morning cup of tea, even though it's mostly spent at the computer, but it's just soothing somehow! 

It will be an AMAZING day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

When life throws you a curve ball!

Thanks for the comments. Yes—I believe 100% that even though I am deleting, I may still need to do one more step to make Google recognize that I have deleted stuff. What is that step? I must investigate. And I have turned OFF photo backup on my phone. So that is NOT adding to the problem. 

Life sure has an interesting way of bringing you down to your knees and making you face reality! I was out walking two of the dogs yesterday when my phone rang. It was not even 8 AM, and NO ONE calls me in the morning. I hardly ever get phone calls, which I am OK with. 

I checked the caller ID, and it was my Aunt, who lives close to my parents. OH -- this is NOT going to be good news. I felt that immediately when I looked at the screen. So with great trepidation, I answered the call. 

It appears Dad had a stroke yesterday morning and couldn't get out of bed. He somehow signaled my mom to call an ambulance. His speech was garbled, so I'm not sure how that happened. She would not have been able to get to him easily since she wasn't in the room and needs a wheelchair to get around. 

He seems to be fine; his speech is back to normal, he can move his arms, etc., BUT upon examination, it turns out that he has at least partially or completely blocked arteries! That is NOT good—the man was given a second chance. So he was given five minutes to make a decision - live with the blocked arteries or go for surgery. They made a big deal about it (this is all according to my brother, who called me with details). Dad was whisked away to Saskatoon by ambulance and was supposed to have the surgery yesterday. 

I got an update later in the day, and he is still waiting for surgery - I guess there are more important cases than his blocked arteries. I get it—it's a crazy world out there. 

I had to rally my troops, make some phone calls to let other people know, and find extra care for Mom since she can't be on her own! Thankfully, Saskatchewan has an amazing Home Care operation, and we are trying to get her a respite bed. I'm waiting to see what the situation is, but in the meantime, we have extra care coming in during the day, and meals will be delivered. Mom is in a wheelchair and not super mobile. All of that happened with ONE phone call! How is that for making life easy?

I must have called her a dozen times yesterday to ensure everything was OK and to explain what was going on. 

BUT - I could still kill her!! I had requested that she have an assessment for permanent long-term care since Dad will NOT be able to assist her in any way when he gets home from the hospital. She agreed when I talked to her, but when the caseworker called her, she said, "I'll wait until we know what's happening with Stan." Seriously???? I could throttle her for that! 

We have discussed this topic many times, and she has agreed, but she is NOT willing to make that decision without Dad around. I plan to go there next week, and I'll drill it into her head that she can't stay in the apartment. We have no idea when Dad will be home. Will they keep him in rehab? No clue on timing, no clue on what will happen!!!!

GRRRRRRRRRRRR --- but life goes on!!!

I am not panicking, I am not stressed. YES -- don't get me wrong, this is a very serious situation - the man is 93 years old and as frail as you could expect for a man who has abused his body for all of those 93 years. There's even a chance he won't survive the surgery, but we don't need to dwell on that. I CANNOT change a single thing about the situation - I can only be a help from a distance, and what is the point of getting myself all worked up? Besides, if I did, he would haunt me. Dad is a NO FUSS kind of person. He's probably in the hospital telling anyone who will listen that he is 93 and still goes to work!! 

The other thing is that I have the first scrap class presentation this morning and then Teach The World to Sew in the afternoon. I had not really prepped anything for either!! So between phone calls, lunch with M and Yagana, and a physio appointment, I managed to get everything more or less done! What a smozzle!!!

I thought this was an appropriate quote in my tea yesterday! Everything we do should be conscious!!

Quote from my tea

Instead of doing the work I was supposed to be doing, the night before, I decided to finish the jigsaw puzzle. I know --- where is my priority filter? It's gone!!! It didn't help that I wanted to listen to that audiobook, which I finished last night while working on today's prep. OMG—right to the end, there was a plot twist, and I didn't see any of it coming! 

Anyway, I got the puzzle together, and DRAT—there is a piece missing!! AGAIN? So I went on a hunt in the morning and VOILA—there was the missing piece. I am going to have to find another tray or get smaller design boards because sometimes a piece bounces off. Thankfully, I found it. 

The missing piece

And there it is—my contribution to the September theme of a Eurographics puzzle. I need to take a picture with the required label and submit it. I have until the end of the month, and, well, things will be working out slightly differently than originally planned this month. 

The completed puzzle

So last night, after we got back from dinner, I started embroidering the labels needed for my kits! Don't worry—the kits the attendees will make are already at the store. I am making labels for the step-outs for my demo! 

Making embroidered labels

I managed to get four of eight labels made, and I cut all the fabric. It didn't take long. 

Then I had four more labels to stitch this morning, so I did that while I quilted the kits (simple!). I raised the table height for the embroidery machine, and OMG—this is wonderful. No need to worry about a chair; it was the right height for standing as I buzzed around. I'm very glad I have those tables. 

Table height for stand-up embroidery

And there are the bits for my eight step-outs. I'm not quite where I want to be, but after my scrap presentation this morning (at the Michaels store), I have a couple of hours to set up the machines, and I'll have some extra time to finish the kits. It won't take long. I'll be ready! 

My kits for Teach The World to Sew Day!

And on that note, I'd better get myself organized. I have dogs to walk and feed, gas to put in the car, and then I'm off to Michaels on John Street in Downtown Toronto - a place I rarely go. I think it's going to be fun!!!

It WILL be an awesome day - no matter what life throws at you. Remember, it is how you respond that determines whether you fall apart or not! 

Ciao!!!

A day of mysteries!

Today, all is revealed, as there were several mysteries at play. 

First—the fabric with the quilt blocks I bought the other day is part of an Anna Marie Textile (division of Northcott) collection. It's called Piecework, and it's not new - it's from 2025. See how often I get out? 

Here's a reminder of the fabrics; you can check the link above for the rest. As mentioned, Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe had all or most of them. 

Piecework collection by Anna Marie Textiles

Second mystery—the darn storage for my email. While I didn't get a chance to delete all the attachments in the SENT folder, I managed to get rid of some; there was ZERO change to the amount of storage. OK -- maybe this morning, the storage will be different. NO!!! How can that be? There has to be something that is even more hidden? This is NOT the first time this has happened. I've deleted huge files from all the classes in the past, and there's still no change in the amount of storage. 

Hmmmm—what could be the issue? Well, that's still a mystery to be solved. 

Speaking of mysteries -- that book - My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney? Oh my -- plot twist after plot twist. Who knew that was coming? It's insane, yet the plot twists are plausible! I still have about 50 minutes, and how many more plot twists can there be? 

But here's the FUN mystery that is now solved. Remember I shared this logic puzzle book I bought a couple of weeks ago. It has 50 puzzles, and they are fairly easy, so I can sit down and do one or two with no trouble. I'm on number 25! 

Puzzle Book

However, one puzzle just didn't make sense. One clue was one of those either/or clues, but it can't be both. Well, the clue wasn't happening for me. I checked with a friend whose son is an EXPERT at this kind of thing to see if I was messing up. Nope—it didn't make sense to him either. 

I tried to find the book online to see if there was a correction. Nothing. After looking at the fine print in the back of the book, I discovered the book was "written" by Dr. Garth Moore and Laura Jayne Ayres. Well, I know who Dr. Garth Moore is! I have watched some of his online videos for solving problems - especially in the EXIT Game series. 

Well, let's just reach out and see what he has to say. We emailed back and forth multiple times yesterday, and it appears this book was NOT supposed to be released in North America. But I'm not going there. 

Anyway, he agreed with me that the clue was not well written. He explained how to interpret the clue, and with that hint, I was able to solve the logic problem with ease. He has offered me a free subscription to one of his puzzle websites for a year. Hmmm—I don't need more distraction, but I'm going to take him up on his offer. 

A very nice person and someone who cares about their customers! But you should check him out - he is the KING of puzzles (at least in Britain) and has books (yep -- even at our local library), puzzles, and videos. He writes for kids and adults, and I see our library has a lot of his ebooks. 

Now what about the mystery in the forest? They spent THREE days, and I don't know how much material was brought in along with all the equipment. 

They brought in many truckloads of fine and coarse gravel and dumped them at the end of the street, along with a load of larger rocks. 

Piles of gravel to repair the path

More gravel

They also brought in a couple of pallets of what I thought were paving stones, but they were actually large plastic grates used to control erosion. 

Compacting the gravel

They had a roller to pack the gravel, a backhoe, and something else. I didn't really pay attention, but many people were involved, and as mentioned, it took three days. 

I also noticed they broke the end section of the sidewalk with the heavy equipment, but when we walked there yesterday, they had even removed the broken piece of concrete and installed a new one. WOW!!!! 

They repaired the broken sidewalk the same day!

In some instances, they have made the path very thick. 

That's a very thick path.

In a couple of areas with a grade, they installed the larger rocks along the sides. I wonder if they graded that path so the water runs to the sides and then through the rocks? Hmmm - more mysteries. 

Murphy enjoying the new path.

So this is the transition between the new part and the old part. 

The transition

I still prefer the old path, but this section didn't erode. 

What the original parts still look like

This is the spot with the biggest erosion issue. I notice that you can see the path of a bicycle, so how compacted is that earth? I almost wish we could have a violent downpour to see how this stands up. I totally get that the plastic landscape material will hold the soil in place, but what about the layers on top of that material? 

The new downhill!

See, those rocks are pretty substantial. 

Grandma -- BIG ROCKS!

I still think they should check out how the Spanish deal with steep hills and water erosion. Either tile/pave it over as they have done in other sections of this area, OR grade the path slightly to one side and then put channels (ditches) along to handle the water. In some instances in Spain, I saw the channel cut diagonally across the path. 

Let's see what happens. I may still dig out those pictures of the paths in Spain and send them to the city if we run into more issues!

OH MY -- I realize this is the weekend for the Virtual Retreat and I'm strapped for time! But we can have one on Sunday afternoon from (3 - 9). I'll post the link tomorrow. I have a very busy day tomorrow and YES - I'll be hosting my scrap class (the first one) from downtown Toronto!!

Here's a sneak peek at my purchases from the day before. I found the perfect fabric for the borders and binding that I needed. I have ZERO issue buying new stuff if I don't have it in my stash. But if I can make do with what's in the stash, then I'll go with that. I had reached the point on THREE projects where I needed to buy something. 

The border and binding fabric for two quilts

Then for the My Kinda Town quilt, I'm using these prints as the background. I think I mentioned that I have tried to use these for multiple quilts, and none of them worked. 

My backgrounds for My Kinda Town

But for My Kinda Town, the backgrounds are perfect. 

A block from My Kinda Town

However, I only had six of those fabrics, and I needed two more! 

I managed to find one more in the kids section of the store. I had checked out, and Dede and I were chatting with the store employee. I then asked her if they had the Tula Pink fairy frost, which someone suggested on my blog. No, but then she asked what I was looking for. OH -- we have some of those in the far corner by the pink fabric. So we trotted over there and sure enough -- they had a variety. I eliminated some of them and found three that will work. 

Three new fabrics

Silly me - I should have asked as soon as I got there, but I did not. I'm glad I asked because now my search for those prints is over. 

I also spotted this vinyl, which is to die for! It's so soft and beautiful. 

Soft vinyl

I found something in the sale area that makes more sense than anything I had in my stash for this quilt backing. It's a nice quilt I want to keep, so I was happy about that. 

Backing for my quilt

And I had the urge to buy something Halloween. Don't ask me why - so this is what I got! 

A Halloween pattern and a mini-charm pack

I am NOT a fan of Tilda fabrics, but these buttons were to die for. Yes - an impulse purchase, which is why I shouldn't go shopping!

Tilda buttons

Because it's going to be an insanely busy weekend, I went to the used book sale last night. I had one goal in mind, and I grabbed some cash. Not much cash, but enough to make the trip worthwhile. 

Oh my --- the sale is on the lower level of a mall; they used to be on the main level, but this is actually better. It was crowded, and the line-ups were long. 

The used book sale

But I found the table with the puzzles and selected a few. I only spent 2/3 of what I took. I had an IKEA bag with me, and they fit in there like a glove. I was there and back within an hour! This is not the first rodeo for the volunteers from the Mississauga Symphony. They know how to process piles of books and take the cash! 

Oh my—look at Murphy and Bear. Bear sure keeps the older dogs on their toes. Murphy used to like sleeping up there, but she doesn't anymore. I'm keeping it around because I know Bear likes it too. He spends many hours watching the activity on the street. But at some point, I'll move it to the garage. It does take up a lot of space. Thank goodness I bought the stairs because he can go up and down at his leisure! 

The neighborhood watchers!

I think the girls like the two walks a day instead of one long one, and I'm getting pretty handy at managing three dogs. I wouldn't do it forever, but the occasional walk with Bear is fine. He's only here for a couple more days. It'll be good when it's just the two girls. Murphy is still attempting to define herself as the Alpha in our house! 

I had so many emails come in yesterday, and I was trying to respond as they came in, so if you sent an email yesterday, I got it, just no time to process!

I compiled the distribution lists for the second scrap class. If you are considering signing up, I'd appreciate it if you do that today. Otherwise, it's a ton of logistical work to keep sending welcome emails to the stragglers. 

Well, I have a lot to get done today, so I'd better get started!!!

It's going to be a wonderful day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Scored on the road (shopping) trip!!!

From the comments, I see I shouldn't save any emails with attachments. And YES -- I agree 100%. However, I have been lax about that, and now I'm paying the price. Well, it just means that I have to do a lot of deleting. 

DH and I chatted about it last night. Why are companies doing this? Changing our phones so we have things like auto-backups, and they don't tell us? Because most people will be lazy and just add more storage (for a price). I refuse to be that person. 

DELETE DELETE DELETE is the new motto!! And it's something that has to be done CONSTANTLY. 

What a road trip that was! I picked up my passenger shortly after 9 AM, and we didn't get home until 5 PM. It took a bit longer than I planned, but boy oh boy—the trip was a total success, and I scored on so many counts!

Our first stop was to drop off a quilt that I had quilted for someone. Her house was along our route, so it was easy. She wasn't home, but that worked out OK. We called her and dropped the quilt off in the garage. We also saved her bacon by turning off the water for their new lawn so her husband didn't think she left it on!

Back on the road, we arrived at our first destination about 11:30. I would not normally drive that far to a quilt shop, but I had left some things behind when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Where were we? Heather Bell's Sewing Studio. She doesn't have a super online presence, but she is a PFAFF dealer, and she also has BATIKS. Lots and lots of batiks! 

A small sampling of the batiks at Heather Bell's Sewing Studio

Except for a few bundles, she sells only batiks! And if you are looking for LIGHT batiks, this is the place to go! 

The cream/white batiks!

The store is attached to her house, and it's not huge, but spread out over several rooms. There were a lot of cars when we arrived, and oh my - we were not expecting that! However, it was all good news since there was a SALE!!!!! A good sale - so that was even better. 

I took the bucket of batiks I sorted the previous night, and with the MUCH APPRECIATED bundles of swatches from my other friend, I found some beautiful batiks to fill the gaps. 

My bucket of sorted batiks

The swatches of batiks

What I added to my collection

OH MY --- doesn't that bundle look yummy! I was so excited that I wanted to dive right in and start sewing last night. But I didn't have time. I had to get dinner ready for the little guy, then have dinner myself, then walk the dogs, take a phone call (while walking all three dogs), and then work on the puzzle. But I'm going too fast. Let's backtrack. 

What am I going to do with all those batiks? I have been a fan of Jacqueline de Jonge patterns for years. I have several that were done before her new cover style. By the way - I bought one meter of each color, except for the remnant. It seems I mostly have stuff from her Rainbow pattern collection. But as I quickly browsed her site, so many patterns are reminiscent of other paper piecing designs!!! I have a lot of that other designer as well. We won't go there! 

My collection of Jacqueline de Jonge patterns

I should have checked the date on the one on the bottom right, but it is definitely one of her earlier patterns. As is the one in the top left. They are also easier than some of the others. The second from the left in the bottom row is the one that I am searching for. Obviously, not the pattern, but the project box. I swear I started it - I remember teaching it, but where is the project box? I'll likely find it and find TONS of batiks. But that's OK. 

Anyway, I would LOVE to start one of these, and two of them are very easy. I know - I know! I said I wouldn't start anything new, but those two are pretty basic and would be fun to have as a new project. Just to "test" out the batiks! I'll see how it goes, as I still have a LOT of sorting to do. And basic things to catch up on. 

With all the commotion and people, we were at that shop much longer than we had planned. I hope to get back and run some classes for Heather. We didn't have time to chat yesterday, so we'll do that on the phone. 

We stopped at Tim's for something quick as we were now running behind. Here's a better picture of the SNITCH (Harry Potter) that you can fill with Timbits. 

The SNITCH box at Tim's

OH MY—the special Timbits you can buy have a golden sprinkle on them. It may not be readily visible in the picture! I must say I splurged and had a tea in the morning, which isn't a big deal, but I ended up eating two of their cookies. OK -- loads of sugar, but it was one day. I can live with one day. 

Golden Snitch TimBits

Our next stop was Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe in Stratford. I had several things that I was looking for, and this is a big shop, so I was hoping we would find what we needed. I knew they had a wide variety of stuff. 

I didn't have time to take pictures, but I was looking for a backing, borders, and some background fabrics. And I scored on all THREE counts. I don't have time to share the pictures this morning, but I will take pictures and share tomorrow. Let's just say that it pays to ASK questions when you are in a quilt shop and can't find what you are looking for. A few impulse buys ended up in my basket. Again -- you'll hear all about that tomorrow. 

BUT LOOK WHAT Dede found!!!! 

Adorable mini quilt prints

OH my goodness!!!! There were pinwheels, flying geese, hexagons, stars, log cabins, and probably something else. There were several different colorways, and I wanted one of each! I did not - I got one. I checked my fat quarter to see what collection this is from, and I don't have a selvage edge on my fabric. I quickly tried to find a mini-quilt image on fabric, and all I'm getting is mini quilt patterns. I might have to call the store. 

But imagine what fun you could have with that! The scale might be a tad small for our Show and Tell quilt by Elizabeth Hartman. Those blocks are 12" square, and I'll have to check to see if the scale would be correct. It might work! 

Show and Tell my Elizabeth Hartman

Don't yell at me - I just had an epiphany. I have tried to delete emails in the past, and I never see any of my storage free up. I empty my trash regularly and get rid of spam and that silly Important folder. But I never touch one folder: the SENT folder. Imagine how many attachments are in that folder? I feel protective of that folder and don't want to empty it in case I need to go back and find something, which I have had to do. But imagine if I went in and deleted every email with an attachment? That might quickly free up a lot of space. 

Hmm -- let me check that out. OK -- I just sorted them, and there are MANY. I'll go in later and delete all the class stuff I sent before 2026. That should help. Then I'll keep deleting stuff from my file structure. I'm working on 2025 right now, and everything before 2025 is already deleted. 

Sometimes people come back in a current class and ask me to resend because they can't find the stuff, so I don't want to get rid of everything. Just keep the current one and delete the rest. 

I went to bed a little bit later than usual because I was listening to that darn audiobook! Oh my --- the plot twists keep coming. There was even one point when I gasped audibly at the plot twist. 

And all the while I was working on my jigsaw puzzle. At last—I got over the hurdle, and I made excellent progress last night. 

Excellent progress on the jigsaw puzzle

I now have two windows and a door of books to complete. I love when that happens. And don't worry—the next one is already sitting on the table, waiting to be put together!

Oh my --- too much running around and looking for things this morning, and I need to get to the gym for 6 AM to meet with Brooke. I am feeling much stronger these days. I wish I was a bit leaner, but that will come. Anyway, I think I'm becoming a gym rat again, which I am happy about. I will get to the point where I can easily do 10 push-ups with 90-degree elbow bends from my toes. Hey -- it's nice to have a goal!!! I know -- you are saying - who cares? Well, I care. Because should I slip and fall, I need to get myself back up!

Lots of computer work and phone calls today. As we were driving yesterday, I must have said at least ten times - NOTE TO SELF - you need to do this. I hope I remember everything! I need to take a notebook and have my passenger take notes. I suppose I could do that through the Notes app and hands-free, but then I will forget the note, so that doesn't help me one bit. 

It's going to be an AWESOME day!!!

Ciao!!!

Make rules - take CONTROL!

It's another day! Of course it is. Well, if I take the book I'm reading into account, who knows what day it really is. It's called My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney, and — well —it's bizarre. At first, I thought it would be boring, but then there was a plot twist, then another, and then another. And I'm now so turned around - well, I'll just have to listen to the last 5 hours to see what happens. 

I have a road trip today; however, I have company, so I won't be able to listen. That's OK -- there's always tonight. 

As I surveyed the mess on the floor in Studio B after moving the tables filled with "current" projects, I came to a conclusion about how to solve the problem. I also found another hidey hole on a shelf, so that is three decent-sized spots to put things. 

I made a few rules so I could take control! If the project is listed on the Visual To-Do list, then it stays on the tables. If it's one of the "less than one hour" items, it stays on the tables. Anything else will find a home in a storage spot. It's going to be a challenge to do that sort, but really it shouldn't be - it fits in one category or the other, or it doesn't. It sounds simple!!

I may need to make a few more rules along the way, but I can get it cleaned up! 

The main thing here is that I am taking CONTROL of the situation, because otherwise it's driving me mad that I never make progress on what's on those tables. The other plan is to take one small project a day OKK - that may not always work out that way) and actually finish the darn thing. Seriously? Do I expect someone to stop by in the night and do the work? 

So when I get home this afternoon, I have a few things to tidy up, and I'll continue with my sorting. 

Let's start with technology because technology is never far from my mind. The first issue is the CD-ROM drive. I have no idea why my computer won't read the darn thing, so I headed off to the library to see if theirs would work. 

I had checked before, and there was no need to book a computer - there were lots available. I spoke to a person at the desk and asked if they had a CD drive, and he said no. So I was hoping mine would work. On the way there, I realized I needed TWO USB ports to connect the CD drive AND my hard drive to copy the files to. 

Thankfully, the computer had two open USB ports, but it was a challenge to connect them because they were hard to see. 

I attached my CD and external hard disk to the computer.

I took FOUR machine embroidery patterns with me, and I got them all copied into the appropriate spot on my SEWING external hard disk. I swear that breaking my files up onto three external hard disks was the best thing I ever did. It's easy to travel with them; no need for USBs and then transferring to the computer when getting home. It's brilliant. 

Transferring files

There were a lot of files, and it took quite a while. The first two groups were fast, but then the system slowed down. Anyway, while I was working, the person from the desk came over and asked how it was going. I said fine, and he said they do, in fact, have a CD drive, so I could use that in the future. That is good to know!!

So those machine embroidery files are now usable, and I should keep going to the library once a week or so to transfer the files I need. It's a nice walk to the library, so on a day when I have no other errands, I might just do that. 

Hmm—I should always do that on a Tuesday, and then I'll have no excuse to go to the thrift shop. Oh good grief—I noticed a sign the other day—the Mississauga Symphony Used Book sale is this weekend, and they have puzzles, books, games, etc. Should I go? I always find a treasure or two, and it's supporting a good cause! 

My other technology woe right now is my Google Drive, which is FULL. I got a notice yesterday that if I don't do anything, I will lose the ability to get email in 29 days! Yikes!!!! The first thing I did was turn off the photo backup on my phone. I do NOT need a backup of my photos, so I have no idea why that is there. And can you believe that when you start to clean up, it helps you! Here's a look at my BLURRY pictures. 

What Google defines as BLURRY pictures! 

Yes—there are a LOT of photos my camera takes on its own, including a couple of long videos taken from my pocket. So I'm getting rid of those, and I also tackled my email. I do not know why it is taking up so much space. A simple email shouldn't consume a ton of space, but I suspect it is all the emails with presentations/pictures attached. I need to delete everything that is no longer relevant. I've done that in the past, but I've never seen my email storage decrease.  

And I don't know why email does funky things. It's been keeping a duplicate, or almost a duplicate, of everything in an "important" folder. For heaven's sake - I don't need that. Again - it's going to be a matter of taking control and just deleting stuff instead of thinking that I will one day have time to read some of the stuff. 

I'll figure out a solution, but I need to take charge NOW!! Some of the backup photos I'm coming across are at least 10 years old. Why is all that there? I move all the photos from my phone to a hard disk, and then everything gets deleted, but it doesn't get deleted from that damn drive. Why? Because then they can sell me more storage instead of me dealing with it. I don't need more online storage. 

We discussed this the other day at lunch. Technically, why would you want ANY online storage? I'm certain that the big companies use that data for whatever purposes they deem worthy - training Google to detect blurry pictures, or identifying other things. We are so afraid of having a presence on the internet, yet if you let Google back up your photos, EVERYTHING you take is online! 

And don't worry—if you don't use Google, I'm sure Apple has all kinds of crap in its cloud. I also don't get this new trend of tracking people! Why the heck would you want that? I know several people who track family members or friends. Seriously? That is an invasion of privacy - I don't care if you are my mom or my sister - it is NONE of your business where I am at this point in time. And if I can track you, then everyone else in the world can track you as well. It's just darn creepy! 

Now -- if I were a risk because of mental health or whatever, then it may have a place, but in the unlikely event you are kidnapped, the first thing they are going to do is take your phone away, so what's the point? And your phone is constantly pinging a cell tower, so if you were kidnapped, they would use that to help locate you. 

I struggle with the overload of data as it is - I certainly don't want more! 

Back to the email - I'm going to try and eliminate everything except my current projects from online. NOTHING needs to be backed up, and nothing needs to be shared with anyone. Then I'll be in charge of my data, and my storage costs will be cheap! 

It was another fabric sorting session last night. I need some batiks, so I sorted through my batiks to see what I had. It's part of the road trip today. Thanks to a friend who gave me small swatches of the fabrics needed for a certain quilt. They were VERY helpful!! 

Sorting batiks

While searching through the basket of red fabric the other day, I spotted this rather large piece of fabric. That would make a great backing, so I measured it, labeled it, and put it on the shelf. 

One more backing

A customer's quilt got quilted—it was a big one, but it went very smoothly. You can't see the whole quilt because there isn't room in front due to all the project boxes on the floor. 

Customer quilt - DONE

And I think I now have the magnet situation under control for one side of the backing. It freaks me out to think it's just some magnets (albeit strong ones) holding the tension on that quilt. But no fabric slipped through, and it was pretty quick to remove this side of the backing when I was done. 

The magnets holding the quilt backing in place

I must work on the leader for the other side of the backing. But that's a project for another day. I have a couple of customer quilts to finish, and I still have FOUR of those community project quilts I want done! ASAP!!!! But I have to make backings for them, and since I'm using scraps, it takes time! 

I went to the gym yesterday, and as I was walking down the stairs, I spotted a beautiful rainbow in the sky. Why a rainbow since we hadn't had any rain! I went to my locker to get my phone, and by the time I got back, it was fading. But it was a full, bright rainbow. 

The rainbow

I had to zip into the rock climbing area to get that picture. I've never done rock climbing, and I don't think it interests me. I don't have the upper body strength required. 

Rock climbing at the gym

But that brings me to something else. While I was doing my stretching on the floor, I saw a woman - maybe younger than me, but not super young who was doing push-ups. The full-blown ones from her toes. Hmmm --- that looks hard. So after she left, I tried to do them, but only from my knees.OKK -- that wasn't half bad! I think we are aiming for a 90-degree bend in the elbow, and I was able to do a few more than 10 with not quite a 90-degree bend. 

Last night, I tried from the toes, and while I can do 10, I don't dip too low. But I can add that to my repertoire and see what happens. It's a good measure of increasing strength. By the way - a woman in my age category should be able to do 10 push-ups in one set, and I'm assuming those are from the toes. 

The other thing I've been working on is the ability to get up and down gracefully, or somewhat gracefully, from the floor. I do pretty well, but I was curious what the difference is between me and someone else. So I watched and AHA—it's the added use of the arms. I can get up very well, but I use my arms to assist. Younger people do it with just their legs. I am determined to turn back time - I already have by going to the gym. 

I have to tell you the story of the car and air pressure issues. We have the sensors in our tires (both winter and summer) that indicate when the air pressure is low. I don't know how much the pressure has to drop before the sensor triggers. Like most passenger cars, our tires need 32 PSI per tire. The driver's-side front tire started acting up about 6 weeks ago. 

Now we all know that sometimes on a cool morning, the pressure is lower than later in the day, and so I waited a few days OKK - weeks) to see if that made a change. It did not, so I went to the gas station and put air in the tire. It costs $2.50 to get air these days! 

The sensor stopped registering a problem for a few days, but then it came back. So I waited a week and booked an appointment to get the tire checked. Then I filled the tire with air again. 

This time the silly sensor did not come on, but I went to the appointment anyway. I explained the situation to the service intake person. He asked me where I put air in my tires. Hmmm --- isn't there only one place? The gas station - I certainly wasn't going to use my bicycle pump! Aha, he said - you can't trust the gauges at the gas station. 

DUH -- I know! I have my own gauge, and I check the tires from time to time. 

My tire pressure gauge

That still didn't faze him. He told me about the cool mornings. Yep -- I know about that too. The damn sensor was on, and I was pretty sure we had a leaking tire, but they temporarily fixed it the last time when I had the tires swapped in the spring. 

I totally get his point of view, since I bet MANY people don't have a tire pressure gauge in their car, and if they do, they have no clue how to use it. Mine is older, but it seems to work just fine. 

Anyway, he saved me some money. But dang it all - I had bought a fancy tea, and I had my computer with me, and I was going to clean up files while I waited! Alas - it wasn't to be. So now I'm going to watch the tire pressure and see what happens. Sigh.....................

And he didn't log that I was in the shop because I got a call later in the day asking if I made it in. No invoice, no appointment! I explained what happened. 

Here are my words of wisdom for the day. 

We had this discussion at lunch the other day, too. If you are in an evacuation alert, what do you pack? It's a very hard question to answer! 

I must run, as I have to pick up my passenger at a specific time, and I don't want to be late. 

It's going to be a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!