A "peaceful" day in the gazebo

 

Don't yell at me when I say there is so much to do and so little time. Because part of that statement is very accurate, but if I were really in a time crunch, I wouldn't have taken most of the day off! There are so many little things to finish, and I seem to be taking my sweet time to get to them. Personally, I'm OK with that, and there are only a few appointments this week, but I do have a guild presentation with the Grand Quilt Guild (Fergus) on Wednesday evening (the topic is scrap quilts), two lectures at Hamilton Sewing in Hamilton (one event on garment sewing techniques and one on sergers), and one Zoom with a store in Surrey, BC on Friday, which is the third part of an ongoing lecture series. Then there are three Zoom classes this weekend and my two UFO clubs. All in a week's work!

But it will be tough to work indoors this week as the weather forecast is for those stinking hot days that I've been dreaming about. Let's see if the weather forecast is correct, or is that just a Plus One weather forecast? 

I had to laugh, though, as I went to open up the Zoom link for yesterday's machine embroidery class, and guess who was already down there? Yep-- that would be Murphy! Waiting until I was in the middle of a call to "attack" me so she could get some petting, and she knew I couldn't move! Smart girl!

MOM -- where have you been? 

And when it was over, and I shut down the computer and glanced up, guess who was watching me? It's kind of creepy when she does that. Just silently watching! She was probably sitting there making sure that when the call was over, I got up and paid even more attention to her!

MOM -- it's now time for ME! 

She sure is an attention hog because I sat in the gazebo after the Zoom and my walk. It was supposed to be a peaceful afternoon and relatively warm. Alas, my peace was not to be. I do not remember how many times she "accidentally" dropped the ball in the pond. And once or twice, she attempted to get it, but that ball has a hole in it, so depending on how it dropped, it would fill with water and sink. 

MOM -- don't worry, I can get it! 

And then someone protested rather persistently until I got up and fished it out of the pond with the net. 

MOM -- a little help here! 

And who got a dirty head because of ball-dipping in the pond? Yes - that would be Murphy. But was she happy? Oh, you can count on that! What a character, and there is never a dull moment when she is around. 

MOM -- I am NOT dirty - I'm wet!

But I still spent a couple of glorious hours out there and loved every minute, even when it meant that I finished up the customer quilt relatively late in the day. But that's the beauty of working for yourself -- you can rearrange the day and still get the work done, and no one can yell at you! 

It's gazebo time!

Here's the customer quilt of the day. While it wasn't a giant like the one the day before, it was still a decent size. But it quilted up beautifully. 

Customer quilt - DONE

However, lately, I can't quilt a quilt without some drama in each. What happened yesterday? The bobbin ran out close to the end of a row. No big deal, I pulled out the bobbin to refill, and suddenly, this message appeared on the screen. 

Error message

Now, as soon as I touch that, the entire software will close down, and if you're not prepared, this can be a nightmare. However, I've learned to SAVE the quilting design for EACH quilt and keep the marker for the current row on the quilt. The only thing left is remembering which row you are on, and VOILA -- in less than five minutes, I was back in business. Still, it's annoying when I've no idea why that error appears. But it also makes me wonder how I learned to recover from that error? I don't have anyone to teach me. No -- trial and error and, thankfully, NOT messing up anyone's quilt. Let's face it -- computers work on logic, so if you figure out the logic and the tools -- then fixing their mistakes is easy -- well, at least in the case of this error. 

I did a fair bit of tidying up and managed to almost empty one of the suitcases. I need to finish both today and refill them for this week. I went through part of another shelf, and oh my -- I seem to have loads of these history/pictures books of quilts. 

History/quilt picture books

The ironing board is almost cleared off as I pressed and trimmed the half-square triangles sitting there. 

Trimmed half-square triangles

As I mentioned, there are so many things to be done, and while I was tempted to make a list yesterday, I decided not to. Creating an extensively long list is well --- it would drive me nuts. And that list would never end, and it would get messy. So I decided instead to list THREE quilt-related things that must be done. It's probably useless, and I'll forget to continue with it after three days, but I needed something to check off yesterday! So I got to check three quilty things off my list without much time wasted making a list! It's about prioritizing rather than making a list that's important. 

It's Monday, and while some people have a holiday, it's Monday sewing, and I get to stay for the entire session - something I haven't done in a couple of weeks. And yes -- there's spin class this morning, so I'm off to the gym shortly! 

Then home to work on my list of three quilt things for today! Anything beyond the three is a bonus! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!