I can DO THIS!

The weather here is PERFECT. I'm afraid to say anything in case I jinx it. But it's not overly hot (I know others would disagree), there's a nice breeze (which we enjoy with our windows wide open), and it's great for sleeping. And with all the money we save on A/C, I can buy something - NOT fabric. I've been taking long walks in the afternoon - no girls, it's too hot for their unruliness. Most things are within walking distance from me - the bank, the grocery store, the mall, the library, the bookstore. We live in a perfect location!

I accomplished quite a bit yesterday. Working on a secret project which will be published next week so I'll share that with you then. My computer desk is pretty neat (which is very unusual) and I'm liking it very much. Slowly plugging my way through this paperwork and phone calls. I'm feeling very good about myself. But it's amazing how many crappy little things we can accumulate in a day. What to do with them? These are the kind of things that become clutter. I've come across tons of this stuff in the last couple of days because of not dealing with it before. It's piled in a box, which I know isn't good. I should be taking each item and dealing with it once and for all when I touch it. But there is only so much of that that one can do in a day. I'll be sharing some of that with you. I'm sure you have your own crap around the house. Sometimes, we just need permission to let it go!!

I don't have an official day job, but yet, I can barely get to my sewing machine for my own personal sewing. So nothing has been done on the double wedding ring - remember, I still have that one row to finish sewing on. I did enjoy the process of working on only one project while I was at the retreat and I had told the ladies that I had the perfect project to bring to the next retreat.

When I got home, I dug out the project. OH - we might want to rethink that thought. Here is the pattern - it's called Circle of Life by Jacqueline de Jonge.

Circle of Life by Jacqueline de Jonge

Here's the basket of fabric - a big basket of batiks and other stuff since I wasn't able to find some batiks in those bright colors - in particular, the yellows.

Basket of fabrics for Circle of Life quilt

 However, I thought I had actually made progress on this quilt. But NO - I have only made this one diamond!!  That means I would have a LOT of work on this quilt. I might just suck it up and take it anyway. I have a road trip tomorrow and I might just put on my list to find some bright yellows. If I search through that basket to find what I'm missing, I might just put this in the bag for the retreat. YES - I can do it!!!!

One diamond is sewn - that's it!!

I could make quite a dent in this project over five days, but it's not on my UFO list and I might be better to take those projects with me if they're not done by then. I had better get working on those UFOs or I'm going to be in trouble at the end of the year with more projects still NOT done. Those UFOs are going to become the focus of my Mondays since that seems to be the only day I get to sew in the week.

I should sew more in the evening, but that's my reading time and after sewing all day or quilting for others, I'm just not in the mood to do more sewing for me.

Here's a picture for a good laugh. I have my computer desk in the office as well as another desk and a table. The surfaces of all of them were heaped. The computer desk is in pretty good shape (now). This particular desk is going to become the dumping ground for a wee bit longer. The table is in better shape and I hope to soon have some space where I could actually do some of the sorting instead of on the kitchen counter.

A dumping ground - but it's better than it was

Here's a picture of the table. Not bad - not good, but getting better. I was listening to a webinar yesterday and happened to turn around and looked at the table. I got quite the chuckle. Do you see how many ORANGE things are on the table? Quite a few!!!!

That's a lot of orange things

I got another customer quilt done. Actually a wee bit behind on sharing these photos with you. I've got more done and loaded a HUGE one this morning ready for later today to get it quilted.

Customer quilt

Hmm - what links to share with you today. OK - here's a good one. It's about a designer/creator who decided to throw in the towel and get a day job. It's a super tough business to be in and to make a living. Why? Because there's so much FREE stuff out there. Do you notice how many giveaways there are? Free fabric? Free patterns? Why?  Because people want to be LIKED. Today, everything is measured in clicks, hits or likes. The competition is fierce. And if you, the consumer, had a choice between a pattern that you can get for free or one that you have to buy - which one would you chose?

Anyone can set up a blog or a website or a Youtube channel. With some of the tools out there, it's easy to design a pattern, (not as easy to write, but doable) and since people are consumed by the desired to be hit, clicked or liked, they offer this stuff for free. These are the casuals in the industry. They don't necessarily need an income to survive which then makes it a challenge for those that need the income from this industry to survive. I hope that makes sense.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but the internet has opened up a whole other world where people are willing to give things away (not just in our industry), so they can be LIKED. That's very sad that they feel this need. This is going to become even more common as people are turning to their screens for friendship and entertainment. They are no longer getting the support they need from face to face communication and it's almost like buying the friendship. I'll give you THIS FREE THING if you like me. Now we're friends!!

I don't do any advertising and rarely do giveaways on my blog. If people like what they read, that's good enough for me and if no one reads the blog, that's good enough for me. I write the blog for ME, not for you!

But I'm OK if you read it!

Here's how I like to roll. And Murphy was a good little helper this morning so the paper didn't blow away.

On that note, it's another busy day and I'd better get started.

Have a super day!!

Ciao!