The missing keys

The day is a bit topsy turvy. I'm getting ready for a road trip so while I'll be blogging, there won't be too many pictures if any. Can you imagine I'm going to spend the next 14 hours (over two days) with three other people in a car? It's actually going to be pretty exciting - we all get along pretty well (I think) and I would hope that we're all mature enough to deal with each other. If not - I have an audiobook and quilts to rip apart.

Of course, I'm with the chatty Cathy's so I'll be coaching them before we get to the border. Where are you going? Nashville. Why? Quilt show.  That's all they need to say - Oh - yes - we're Canadian!

Let me go back a couple of days to the locked door. So there are three rooms in the basement that have locks on the door. In hindsight, I should not have installed locks on those doors, but I did so and we're going to live with it. I'm pretty sure there are three, although I seem to have only two sets of keys.

Remember how that door was locked to that little closet? Well, I knew the keys were in an orange bowl. As I was sitting at the computer, which used to be in the basement, I remembered that the orange bowl sat on the computer desk. In a state of trying to hide things, I put the orange bowl in a box which sits right on the computer desk. Those darn keys were right beside me all that time. I didn't really spend any time searching for them. I went to the place where my memory told me they were and voila - orange bowl with keys.

Orange bowl with keys stashed beside the computer

Yep - a quick peek inside and there were the two sets of keys. Fortunately one of them worked on the locked door.

Two sets of keys

Getting access to the room meant that I could search for the white bag with the partially completed doll so I could find my stuffing tools. Found the white bag - right there on the shelf.

White bag on the shelf

Inside the bag, I did not find official stuffing tools. What I did find were the tools that I used to stuff things, but not an official stuffing fork. When I took the class on doll making, we were recommended to use metal tubes (much cheaper). And I found three of them in various sizes. Perfect!!!  I've stuffed some very tiny things with these tubes.

Makeshift stuffing forks

 Actually, I remember these things working very well. I bought them at a railroad hobby store.

What surprises me is how our memories work. How cool is it that I knew exactly where those tubes were and exactly where the bag was. It blows my mind that our brains can file away and then retrieve those little details.

If you don't know what a stuffing fork is - here's a link to one. Now that I look at the picture, I'm certain I have one of these as well. But where????

I need to start collecting tools and putting them in the toolbox, NOT with a project. That's one mistake that I made as I organized stuff or as I put projects away. It's going to be hard to correct that since my brain is going to go back to the first spot that I remembered putting the tools.

Thanks to Shelly, I have a couple of new license plates to add to my collection. And look at those wee plates - are they not just the cutest????

Row by row license plates

Thanks, Shelly - I must get myself organized and find something to do with the rest of my plates. At one point, I will opt out of teaching and start to ONLY work on things for me. I just love teaching so much that I don't want to stop, yet...........  But I spend a lot of time prepping (did you know that we don't get compensated for all that time spent prepping, writing e-mails, writing instructions, etc.?) Oh yes, that's one of the fun perks in this quilting world. You get paid, but only for a finished product or hours in the classroom. It's a glamorous job - NOT!!   But I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!

On that note, I still have a label to make for my mini quilt that's going to Quiltcon.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!