A little help from my friends

 

Have you ever noticed how some days in your house are calm, and others are totally chaotic? Yesterday was a chaotic day. I had two people picking up stuff, so I had to make sure that it was ready for them. The crew was here to close the pond, and that required some conversations with them. Then I had two presentations which weren't chaotic as I was the one in control of that. But all those little time commitments, well, it makes for a chaotic day!

Today, I have two more presentations, but nothing else. It's going to be a quiet day! How will I cope with the solitude? Oh - trust me - I'm going to be happy to putter by myself. 

The internet is behaving itself, so I'm happy. Speaking of the internet, I was checking out some e-mails this morning. I often send myself e-mails as reminders of things. DH had been bugging me to upgrade the internet for a while, so on August 21, I sent myself a note. It was titled - Call Bell. In the text, it said, "higher speeds, sports channels." I'm not touching the sports channel thing yet. But we do need to investigate whether we have the right package or not. Personally, I couldn't care less as I don't watch TV, but I'll check for options. 

I got my urgent document out of the house yesterday. And I was SMART. I opened a blank document, and I gave it a name, and then I SAVED it to the hard disk. When it wanted to do a save, it had a file to save to. I'm not sure why I have an issue here, but that documents are HUGE, and could that be the problem? It doesn't matter - I'm getting smarter in this whole writing business. No time was wasted yesterday with writing, and that was a good thing. 

The file is SAVED

I see that my keyboard is going to need a new battery soon. There's a little red light flashing on it. I noticed it yesterday, but I ignored what the light meant. Now I see that it's the battery.

Need a new battery

Over the years, I've done many samples, and not all of them get made into a project. I don't want to throw them away, but they have been piling up. In some instances, the stabilizer wasn't taken off, and it involved HUGE hunks of fabric. After a while, it's impossible to find anything, and it's getting messy in those tubs of samples.

A sample of a font

SO........   I found a binder and some page protectors, and I'm putting all the small samples in the book. There are lots of stuff already in the book - I've been puttering with that this past week. However, there are still many samples that need to be trimmed down and placed in the book. And then there are LOADS more that I want to make. Who knew that you could do so much with a sewing/embroidery machine? However, I cannot find my monogrammed towel sample. Now, where the heck could I have put that?

My sample book

That's what I wanted the label maker for. At this point, I might create a page with more details about the embroidery technique rather than label it with the label maker. It's going to be an awesome reference book. I see myself carrying this on the road rather than taking a bunch of stuff. That is if we ever get back on the road. I swear that people are getting very comfortable with the Zoom thing, including me! Yesterday, I was in Halifax and Cochrane, Ontario. Now could I do that in person? NO!

My sample book

So this is the state of the cutting table at the moment. I think all the things without a home and that have been hanging around and all the loose samples are now on the table, so I'll just work my way through that for the remainder of the week. 

The state of the cutting table

I love to putter, especially when I'm not pressed for time, and today is going to be a relaxed day. 

I had this huge piece of fabric with some embroidered lettering in the center. Now, why haven't I cut that down before now? I found it yesterday in the box with the bias making supplies. I cut all the excess fabric off of it, and I put it in the garbage. I might rescue it and put it in the sample book - at least for now. I can always toss it later. The excess white fabrics? Oh - it went into the Long Time Gone box. That piece was done TWENTY years ago!! I wonder why I wasn't more responsible and dealt with these sample things years ago?  I think it was because I had no idea what to do with the stuff, and I'm not a throwaway person. I pulled a LOT of white fabric from that sample. 

The lettering sample

I trimmed a few more of the double wedding ring arcs as they are on the cutting table, and I'd like to get them trimmed so I can move onto the next section. Baby steps!

Trimming the double wedding ring arcs

I got two more blocks on the mini design boards, all set to sew together. So when the sewing machine gets back on the worktable from the film studio, I'll be able to sew those later today. 

Two more blocks to sew

Even though it was raining all afternoon, I went out for a walk. I dressed accordingly, with rain boots, a raincoat, an umbrella, and gloves. I didn't get wet, and I was toasty warm. It's such a good time to reflect and to think. My brain would be so mixed up if I didn't walk every day. Besides, I had a book at the library to pick up, and so did DH. 

Look at the book - it's so cute!!!! I haven't had a chance to read it yet - it's a children's story. Ronda alerted me to the book. I was going to buy it, but haven't had a chance yet. It's written by Riel Nason. She's a Canadian author. She's a textile artist and lives in Quispamsis, which is in New Brunswick. 

The Little Ghost who was a Quilt by Riel Nason

And I'm super excited about my Virtual Walks. Why? The end is in sight for the Route 66 walk. Remember, I started this walk on January 1. The total distance of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles is 2,280.3 MILES. That's a long way. I initially set my goal to finish in 12 months, meaning I had to walk an average of 6.5 miles a day. So I added an extra one-half mile each day, and guess what? I'm almost in LA. Amazing what an extra half-mile can do for you. I'll finish about 45 days in advance of my deadline. 

I'm just leaving Barstow, California, and now, at least looking at the map, it's all downhill to LA. 

Almost in LA on Route 66

Soon, I'll be out of the desert and into the city all the way to the end. There are just over 150 miles to go. If I keep up my pace, I'll be done in THREE weeks. 

I'm so pumped! I'd love to finish now, but slow and steady. My knees couldn't handle more distance each day! Yep - I have knee problems, but then I've had knee problems for the last 6 or 7 years, but I don't talk about it. Take a pill and move on! 

I almost forgot to share this with you. Many months ago, I made a quilt for a challenge for the Canadian Quilters Association. I never posted it because I knew it would be - well, it was supposed to be at Quilt Canada. That got canceled, and it was supposed to go on the website. Well, I almost forgot about it, and the judging for Viewer's Choice is almost over. So you MUST get yourself over to the page and look at the amazing quilts. The challenge was called Try-A-Triad Challenge. You were to use THREE solid fabrics - red, yellow, and blue. So you can pick your favorite and vote for that - or you could just save yourself some time and just vote for mine! Hye - I'm sure I'm not the only one that solicits votes!!!  HA - that makes me smile, especially at this time. 

There are some fascinating quilts, and it's so fun to see how everyone used the three colors. If you want to save some time searching, my piece is in the last row on the left-hand side. It's called Tri-Color Slash. Be sure to vote! We need to support our local organizations, and voting for the on-line show is part of that. I don't care if you vote for someone else's quilt - just get over there and VOTE. We need to show our support!! Anyone can vote - you don't have to be a member. The link to the voting is on the top of the page. 

Oh my gosh - I had to laugh. I send myself pictures from my phone via e-mail, and I went back to e-mail to find the pictures for tomorrow, but instead, I found the pictures I took of my Try-a-Triad Challenge. So to save you from searching for mine, here it is. 

Tri-color Slash

And here's a detailed picture of the quilting. I quilted it on my domestic machine with the built-in walking foot. I LOVE how dense it is. It turned out beautifully!!!

Detailed photo fo the quilting

Shoot - I had something else that I wanted to share with you today, but there isn't going to be enough time to do it justice, and I NEED your help with that as well. So I'm going to find the pictures now and get them organized for tomorrow. So much to say and so little time. 

OH -- have I seen anything weird on my walks lately? I have seen the homeless guy a couple of times but not on the corner. He was walking down the street next to ours yesterday. He seems to be intent on getting somewhere, but where? 

On the corner where he usually hangs out is this wooden palette. The palette has lost slats over time, gained some green painter's tape, and now there are some slats of engineered hardwood flooring. It's like an active art scene. What will it look like the next day? I make a point of checking it out each morning to see if it's different from the day before. 

The artistic wooden palette

Well, it's time to get the day started! Lots of puttering to do and prep more stuff for presentations. 

Have a super day!!!  Remember, even if it's raining, you can go out! Or call someone! But don't veg in the house by yourself all day!

Ciao!!!