March on!

 It's a bit too early to start reflecting on what happened this past year. And I'm sure that many don't even want to go there. 

However, here's some interesting food for thought. Two days ago, I finished my 2020 challenge with The Conqueror. It initially started out as a cycling goal of 3,000 miles for 2020. When things started shutting down, I lost my spin class mileage, and my cycle trip was canceled. I needed to rethink that goal. I started counting my walking mileage. I did feel like I was double-dipping on this, but who cares. 

I converted it to KM late in the year, which worked out to 4,828 KM. If I realized, I would have upped the goal to 5,000 KM, but I didn't have time to walk that extra distance. As I mentioned, I finished the other day. Here's the revelation. I definitely walked/rode my bike more than I drove this year. Seriously??? Yep - I haven't done the math, but I'm guessing that I've driven about 2,000 KM since March and probably not much in January and February. But I'll have walked and ridden my bike almost 5,000 KM this year. That's the first time ever in my life that that has happened. 

Was it easy? Oh yes - the dogs get their 5 KM walk in the morning (they split it since they are unruly to walk together), and the rest of the walking came from doing my errands (mostly) on foot rather than in the car. So I saved a lot of money, saved wear and tear on my car, and built up my health! 

Here are some pictures of my virtual walks. Don't worry - there's quilting stuff coming. 

The first one is my walk along the Appalachian Trail in the US. Did you know the trail follows the border between Tennessee and North Carolina? I did NOT. 

Following the Appalachian Trail

Wouldn't it be exciting to walk that trail in person? Oh - I'd love to walk part of it, and perhaps I'll put that on my list of things to do when we're able to get out and about. 

If nothing else, I've learned a TON about geography on these journeys. And I've learned a TON about Google Maps. 

This next picture is from my walk across Canada - west to east. I'm in Sault Sainte Marie. A friend of mine grew up on St. Joseph Island, which I assumed was a SMALL island near Sudbury. Wait a minute - that island is HUGE. You can see it at the bottom center of this photo. 

Sault Sainte Marie

The other thing I learned (from Nancy) is that you can drag the little yellow guy (on Google Maps) to any spot on the map you're on and see a view. As long as Google has mapped it. Thanks, Nancy - I did not know that, or if I did, I had forgotten it. That's going to make these trips even more exciting. I learned that if you click on the photo, you fast forward a certain distance along the road. And you could technically do that for an entire trip, I suppose. Don't forget you can turn 360 degrees to see in front and behind you. 

It's totally fascinating! 

But here's the other thing I learned. I dragged the little yellow guy to a spot on the map, and I got a PHOTO that wasn't done by the Google mapping car. Nope - it's a picture of a bunch of Canada geese in a field with some men. Seriously???? 

M tells me that Google now allows people to upload their photos with the geotag so the little yellow marker guy on the maps can land on said photos. Oh boy - that's getting kind of weird. 

This morning, as I exited Sault Sainte Marie, I noticed an island where Murphy should go and live. 

Squirrel Island

She could run to her heart's content - it's an island, and they better have LOTS of squirrels for her to chase. She would be happy!

Here's the final screen on my 2020 challenge - a total of 4,828 KM. I would say that I cycled about 800 of those KM. 

And now onto the quilting stuff. OH WAIT - I got a nasty note from Bear. He's upset as he hasn't been making the blog as often as he feels he should. So here are a couple of pictures. 

This little guy is so darn cute, and I really hate to see him go home, but he'll be home in a couple of days. I should take a picture of his INDOOR sweater, which has squirrels on it. Oops - Grandma walked him in that sweater yesterday, and people who saw him loved it! Parents are so protective! He loves when Grandma is in charge! 

Waiting for Santa?

He loves to visit Studio B and was sleeping peacefully in a basket on the table. Then I heard a slurping sound and found him enjoying my glass of water! Note to self - DO NOT forget that the dog slurped from that glass! I got a new glass! The blue sweater is his walking sweater - how boring is that? 

Getting a sip of water

Here are a couple of photos from the cleanup day. This is the table cleared off and waiting for a jigsaw puzzle to be opened. 

The jigsaw table

The other side of that group of tables is the machine parking area. Embroidery units, accessory trays, machines, etc., hang out on this table. 

Space for embroidery units and other sewing machine parts

And the table right behind has one more sewing machine and an orange bucket (freed up from project stuff) that holds embroidery hoops and extra machine bits, like foot pedals. Gosh, it feels AMAZING to get this stuff organized. 

More storage for sewing machine parts

I emptied three containers. I might need them in the future, so there's a stash of the empty containers under the stairs where there's loads of room. I'll likely need these as I move forward with the last bit of tidying up. 

Empty containers

I still have containers like this to deal with. A small cute tin filled with odds and ends of stuff. This is what causes us issues. Cute little things that we pick up, and then what do we do with them?? I've been a saver of this kind of stuff, and now it's time to deal with it!! I better have a drink first to loosen my hoarding tendencies up!

A container of bits

I emptied this cute little basket that I made, and it now corrals the half-square triangles that need to be pressed and trimmed. It's a free pattern that I made. I see it's no longer on the Northcott website, but if anyone wants it, let me know, and I can scan it and send it to you. A great way to use 2 ½" squares. 

A basket to hold half-square triangles

Speaking of the jigsaw puzzles, I decided that yesterday was the day to crack that one open. It's NOT going to be easy. 

My jigsaw puzzle of choice

Oh, that's an understatement. This is a very challenging puzzle. Not only is there a lot of green in that picture, but the pieces fit in multiple positions! The border is done, but not before I had to switch some pieces around. I did start on the tractor, but holy - it's a toughie!!

Getting ready to start the puzzle

The binding is on the last customer quilt. No rush to get it to the recipient since she lives in the UK and cannot come home at all. It'll be given virtually to her!!!  And Mom has tested positive for COVID here, so what a mess. I'll be taking pictures this morning, and then it'll get picked up later. 

Binding on the T-shirt quilt

I seem to be whipping through spools of thread with great abandon! I'm going to have to place an order in the new year. But I'm going to be sorting through my thread at some point as well. I have lots of thread but am running out of some specific colors. But it's time to dig deep and pull out those other spools that I've bypassed for years. 

An empty spool

I've got one small quilt for Bear to bind today. The binding is made, and I'll get to it later today. 

Binding for Bear's quilt

I also have to box up a serger and get it ready for pickup. Good grief - I'm going to need to open the manual to find out how some of the bits get prepped to go back in the box. 

Packing up a serger

Well, that's it for today. Much more in the decluttering department, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow. 

Have a super day!!!  Hey - it's Christmas Eve!! Don't forget to put out the milk and cookies for Santa tonight!

Ciao!!!