Multi tasking - good or bad?

A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. After I finished posting the blog yesterday, I hit the garage and soon my front step looked like this.

Donation stuff waiting to be picked up

When I removed all the stuff from the garage that was in the "donate" pile, I saw a few other things that have been hanging around. I packed those up and out they went as well. A couple of things from the basement and I was done for this round.

The more I think about my stuff, the more I realize how few things I need on a daily basis. And I'm so much a seasonal person (decorations) any more.  So - there'll be another pickup scheduled for July. Once you start this process, it's easy to let go. What if you realize you gave something away that you need? Well, you could always replace it or borrow it from someone? I know that the stuff I'm giving away is stuff that I haven't touched in years - I doubt that I'm going to want it or need it.

What if you accidentally give away something that was a precious memory? Well - it's just that now. A precious memory. You must ask yourself this question - what are the consequences in five minutes, five months and five years of that item being given away. If nothing serious is going to happen, you probably don't need that item.

What if the item is sentimental, yet you don't know what to do with it, but you don't want it? Take a picture. Put it in a folder on your computer marked MEMORIES and toss the item. Seriously - why are you keeping things that you don't need or want just because Aunt Sue gave it to you? Let it go!!

I'm reading a book right now on decluttering. While I like some of what this person is saying, she really has some whack job ideas. Keep toilet papers rolls because you can use them to keep cords tidy and other ideas. Seriously???  Put those toilet paper rolls in the recycling and use an elastic or one of those velcro cord keepers. I get it that she wants to recycle, but that's ridiculous. The other thing she says is to organize your books by color on the shelf so they look pretty. Yeah - pretty useless to organize by color when I won't read them by color. I want my stuff to be organized the way that I would shop for it (and hence "shop" for the next book when I'm going to read it). I don't want my house set up to be pretty - I want it to be practical. The eclectic look is just fine! I'll finish reading the book, but I could write a much better book (but I'm not going to).

I'm going to have some more tips for you in another post.

Yesterday was a heads-down intense day of working. I didn't go to the gym, and I didn't go for a walk, but I did well over 10,000 steps yesterday. And I didn't leave the studio. Why?  I had two machines going yesterday - The Designer EPIC was embroidering its merry little heart out............. (gosh I love that machine!)

Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC in embroidery mode

 AND the long arm was fired up and it was working its magic on the other side of the studio.

Long arm working away

 Let's just say that until I got a rhythm going with the two machines, it was a wee bit of a challenge to keep up with both of them. I even toyed with the idea of firing up another machine to do some piecing, but that wasn't going to happen.

Between bobbin changes, babysitting where babysitting was required and fixing stupid human errors, I was super busy. Do not worry - no quilts were harmed in the process of yesterday's work. But when you know the bobbin is going to run out soon and you walk to the other machine and then get wrapped in what it's doing and then you have to wait for the long arm to trace back almost an entire row - well that slows the process down.

And let's not forget that I did not optimize the quilting pattern on the long arm for one row. Hmm - why did that machine stop? Oh, shoot - that will make an ugly join in the row. So I had to fix that. But here's the best part. I know how to fix stupid human mistakes like that. I'm getting pretty handy with the pattern repair function on the long arm.

What got done in all that running around?  Here's the first quilt. This one is mine.

My quilt - DONE

 Now if you've got a good memory, this quilt was in a magazine last year. Obviously, it's not the same quilt. I didn't like the lack of contrast in the borders on this one, so I had to remake the top and that's the one that went into the magazine.

Here's the second quilt. It's in McCall's Quick Quilts - December/January 2018. The fabric collection was from Northcott - Silent Night. You can see the pattern in the border in the second quilt is much more pronounced than in the original one. Either way, the panel/fabric is gorgeous!!!!

Second quilt made for the magazine

Might as well finish up the original one - it's not bad. So that's now in the "to be bound" stack that hasn't gotten any smaller since the last time I talked about it.

And I got a customer quilt done as well.

Customer quilt - DONE

This one has to be trimmed and the binding put on (yes - the binding is in the bag this time!) before Saturday's class. That shouldn't take long, but I've got a lot of stuff going on and I have two errands today that will require some time to get done.

The next quilt is loaded on the long arm and I might get to it today. If not, tomorrow evening. The quilts for next week are already in the "on deck" area and waiting for next week to come.

I wonder how many people were running around yesterday getting their rows/blocks for the 2018 Row by Row Experience?  I didn't have time. But I've seen some beautiful rows and can't wait to pick up a couple.

When I was out west, I picked up two quilts to be quilted (I'll return them when I go back later this year). And LOOK - there was a little gift attached to the quilts.  Thanks to my aunt for that.

A Row by Row license plate from 2017

It's amazing what I can get done if I don't have my nose in a book! I did finish a non-fiction book yesterday and I started another one. But since these non-fiction books are not page turners, they're easy to put down.

That's it for today. Oh - can't share what's on the embroidery machine, but you'll see it as some point. I've been up since very early this morning finishing off the embroidery - even with that fast DEsigner EPIC, it still took a lot of time to get done what I was doing. It's very cute and now to finish the items off. Since the embroidery unit is set up, I think I might try to work on the sashings for that Halloween quilt that's been on my design wall forever. Wouldn't it be nice to have that to hang up for Halloween???

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day -stay WARM. I had to put long pants on yesterday and a big sweatshirt and I'm still freezing.

Ciao!!!