Is anybody out there?

 I love all your comments, even though I'm a "bad" blogger, and don't personally acknowledge them all! That's another reason I want to cut back (DH just laughed when I said that) on stuff for next year. Hey -- the process is already happening, but there's still lots to do in the meantime! 

I'm glad I inspire others to clean up our houses, studios, digital worlds, etc. We owe it to ourselves and our families to take more responsibility for ourselves! Isn't that what we teach our children? I wish I would have started a long time ago, BUT there are no regrets. I take pleasure in knowing that I've become self-aware of my stuff and am dealing with it now. 

Two more great Zoom classes in the morning. I confess that it is hard to decide which clubs or classes to eliminate because most of them are amazing, and I love the sharing and inspiration that goes on in some of these classes. I must get the remainder of the follow-up e-mails out, though! 

There's only a handful of Zooms left before I take a long break, and while I'm looking forward to that break, I will miss everyone! But there's Virtual Retreat (July 22 and 23 - yes -- it's early this month) and Monday Sewing to keep everyone entertained. 

I've come to the conclusion that I am NOT a good online shopper. I received socks yesterday and opened the package, only to discover that the size was WRONG. Since when are my feet XS/S? Am I that silly when it comes to ordering? Shoes too big, socks too small!

SMALL??

Yes, I ordered it from my favorite online store, and I was wondering why. Oh yes -- I tried to order directly from the manufacturer, but shipping to Canada was crazy. So I will return these, and I've already ordered from another Canadian store that I didn't find the first time. 

I'm ticked off because returning items is such a waste of time and resources, both for me and for the company. Hopefully, I've learned my lesson!

This is one of the blocks for the Barn Star Sampler quilt that we're making. The block is HUGE at 24½ ". But I love the colors, and it was easy to put together. I'm a bit behind with those blocks, so let's see what happens over the next little while. The next meeting isn't until October, so I should have time to catch up!

Barn Star Sampler block

I took one more trip to Diane's house, and now she has all the fabrics I had sorted out, and I brought back finished quilt tops. 

Quilt tops

More quilt tops

If I had not done that, those brown fabrics would still be in my stash twenty years from now, so while it "hurt" to donate them, I feel much better, and when I look at my brown basket of fabric, I see a nice inviting basket of browns, instead of an overstuffed hodgepodge of everything! 

It's all about using up. There goes two more bobbins of bobbin thread and a spool of thread. 

More threads are used up!

And now I'm using this GIANT spool of thread. Thank goodness I have a telescopic thread stand to hold it, as it's quite large. I think it'll be quite a while before I run out of black thread! But now that all my piecing threads are in one place when I want something, it's a snap to open up the cupboard, pull out the container and pick! I WILL get this mess under control! Life is so much easier when things are organized! 

A giant spool of black thread

I think taking control of our messes and getting them under control is good for the brain! It helps to calm us down, allows us to take charge of our lives, and we know what we have, and therefore, we know what we need or don't need! No regrets, but I wish I had done that much earlier! 

One more customer quilt is now quilted. There are still a few more that I need to quilt. Slow and steady! And a new one pops in the queue as quickly as they get picked up. That's OK - I like quilting them. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The secret quilt got bound, which was quite a chore as it is huge and heavy, but it's ready to be mailed off today!

I wrote two rough drafts and must edit them this morning or early afternoon. I might miss part of Monday's sewing, but I must get these out the door. 

Then I'm a wee bit behind on other writing, but I should get a couple more drafts done later today and get them off tomorrow. So it's all coming together. 

I couldn't help myself, so I requested the next Harry Potter audiobook. I would have to wait several weeks, but I was OK. Imagine my surprise when I opened the Libby app and was offered to borrow the book immediately. Of course, I said YES! I'm already half done! So as long as I'm tidying/quilting, I can listen. Once it's time to write, I have to stop!

And how is this for cuteness? She knows how to be cute and likes to be with me ALWAYS. 

MOM -- I am watching you! 

It was getting dark in the evening because of impending storms, but I heard nothing. I'm unsure if we had a storm, but I believe we got rain. 

Stormy skies

Well, I'm off to spin class! 

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!