Spring Cleaning

My goodness, there's so much to write about, I have to laugh when I see idea generators on the internet for blog themes. How can you be genuine about something when the idea is NOT yours?

Well, there's HUGE news in the industry this morning. Be sure to read my other post for today. You won't believe what happened yesterday.

It's that time of year again - spring cleaning!  I haven't made as much progress as I would like in the spring cleaning area, but I'm trying. Yesterday just wasn't a super productive day - at least on the quilting side, but I managed to cross off a couple of items on my paperwork to do list and that made me very happy.

I even managed to clean off my desk which made me super happy and I should keep it clear as it's way easier to work and I feel more like working when there isn't a pile of junk around my desk.

Now doesn't that space look inviting?

The area around the keyboard is tidied up

Yes, I know that I just moved a lot of the junk, but at least I have some space to work. I even decided to bite the bullet and move the rest of the junk off the other side so I could have even more space to work.

Even more space to work

 Wouldn't it be nice if I could keep it this way?  I try - I really try (well sometimes). My problem is that I get all fired up and I think that I can get this and this and this and this done, so I move those items into my workspace and next thing you know, it's so cluttered that I get nothing done!!!

I guess the trick will be to have THREE things that need to be done in that workspace. If I get one thing completed, then I can move one more item in the workspace. I have to do something as I'm not the best with paperwork and get easily distracted. Then I'll just dig through the piles and keep bringing the items over one at a time.  OK - I'm going to try that. Hey - it's all baby steps and slowly, I'm learning new work habits that are making me way more productive than I ever was. I wish I had learned some of this stuff years ago!

I've more than three things on the desktop right now, so I had better get the work done today or I'll move the extra off at the end of the morning. I'm loving having the mornings to do paperwork. I hate paperwork and that's my most productive time so it all works out. Actually, I'm not dreading it now that I have designated time to work on that kind of stuff. I have my old day job (which I do NOT miss - except going to Market would have been interesting) to thank for developing that routine.

I downloaded the information about the free paper shredding in my city and I've marked it on my calendar. I have a LOT of files to go through before then, but I have them all sitting on the kitchen counter and as I wait for dinner to cook, I sort through them. I WILL make it happen!!!  I will enlist DH's help when he gets back.

I was also trying to tidy up a bit downstairs and put away the boxes that the long arm was shipped in. It's good to keep that box in the event the machine ever needs to get sent back. I decided while I was in the furnace room (don't worry - the stuff is stored UNDER the stairs which is part of the furnace room but mostly that room is pretty tidy), that I would look at the other items stored in there. I took a number of items out and they will be brought up later today and sorted through. Most of it can be given away. I still need to book an appointment for a pick-up of household items. That is on the list to do this morning.

Stuff from the furnace room

Thankfully there wasn't a lot of stuff, and I even had the urge to get the Shop-Vac out and vacuum the floor. Oh god - what's the matter with me?  If I get on a cleaning tear, I'm fierce. Thankfully, quilting gets in the way!

Speaking of quilting, I just wasn't productive yesterday. I struggled with the quilt. I'm not sure why, but I did manage to get one more done. The last #Humboldtstrong quilt is loaded on the long arm and will be done today.

#Humnboldtstrong quilt - this is number NINE!!!

Six of the #Humboldtstrong quilts were picked up yesterday and those will be bound and sent off. The ladies who made those six are related to one of the survivors of the bus crash and wanted to make their own quilts for some family members. I offered to quilt them for them.

I have four #Humboldtstrong quilts to finish up and send out, hopefully, they will be out of the house by Monday in order to meet the May 18th delivery date. Two were from the retreat and two were from one of my guilds.

I managed to get the binding made for this one. I used one of the pieces of fabric that I posted yesterday.

Binding made for one quilt

 I remembered that I had a stash of Toscana (Northcott) fabric and I found this darker green which will work perfectly for this quilt. There should be just enough and then that piece of fabric is gone. Yeah - piece by piece, this yardage mess will disappear.

Fabric for a second binding

 Here's the black that I've pulled to make the third binding. I might even make the fourth in black as well as there is a black inner border on the quilt. Might be easier and faster.

Black for bindings three and four

 Here's my stack of quilts that need to be finished. Yikes - I haven't counted the number of quilts, but guess what I'll be doing this weekend. Binding quilts!!!!  The #Humboltstrong quilts get priority.

Quilts to be bound

I took the girls for a walk to the library yesterday. Yes - one more book came in. I knew another book was on the way, but it wasn't on the shelf. Actually, the one I went to get hadn't been put on the shelf yet, so I asked the librarian. We hardly ever chat with them now that we have self check-out. Anyway, he said there was only one book in.  I was barely home from the walk when the e-mail came in to say that the other book had arrived so back to the library today.  I don't mind - it's great exercise and I get to check out what's happening in the neighborhood. That was something that I missed greatly when I worked!!!!

Oh speaking of which, I'm happy to report that I fixed my Fitbit. It only needed to be restarted and now it communicates again. And I didn't lose all those steps that I had done that day - almost 15,000. Yeah!!!!  Since I don't need to buy a new Fitbit, I'm going to book some spa time for me as my Mother's Day present. Although I did receive something in the mail from my kid (M) which I've been told to NOT open until Sunday.

We had a major wind storm last Friday. It was HUGE and tons of trees were toppled in the city and lots of houses lost shingles. LOTS.  As I'm walking yesterday, I noticed that these houses are still damaged. That's almost ONE week after the incident.  Did they not check their roofs???  We've had rain since and I'm thinking that rain can't be a good thing when your roof looks like this.

Missing a few shingles

 That first house is missing a LOT of shingles, but at least there is tar paper on the roof. This next house is two doors down from the first one and I think there's a major problem with it as well.

More shingles lost

 These are probably two of the worst in our neighborhood, but I'm tempted to knock on their doors and ask if they even know there's a problem.  Oh well, I guess they will find out when water starts to leak into their upstairs. I wonder how long before they get it fixed????

On that note, don't forget to check out the second blog post for today.

I'm out of here to get some work done and perhaps sit outside a bit, even though it's a tad cold today.

Have a great day!!!


Ciao!!!!