Rogue red threads - at least it's not gold!

Don't ask me about the comments on the blog or how they work. Sometimes people's names appear with the comment, sometimes comments are posted anonymously, and at other times, their status changes. Others want to comment, but they cannot. I have NO idea why. I should investigate the matter. Maybe there's some help feature that I can find. 

Good grief -- I just did a Google search and came up with this. Which I think most people know. I think the main thing is that you need a Google account to reply, and you must be logged in. I use Google all the time and am always logged in. So let's see if that helps anyone!

Oh my - the weather was fabulous yesterday. Sure, we didn't have much sun, but it was still warm! Yes, there was some wind, but who cares -- it's warm! 

I sat in the gazebo for a bit, and the two wind chimes and the cowbell were going mad. As were the trees, as the wind whipped through them. But it was amazing! So peaceful. 

The peaceful backyard

Of course, my faithful companion was out there enjoying it with me. Oh, Murphy - you sweet girl. I have ZERO qualms about our almost maintenance-free backyard. I'd rather be sitting in that gazebo, reading or napping, than doing gardening. It's just not my thing! And we pay someone to come in three times each year to tidy up, and it's money well spent. It's actually not a lot of money either. 

My faithful companion

Alas, I couldn't stay out there as long as I wanted, as I had work to do. And the very rough draft is done, as are all the samples and pictures. Phew - that takes a lot of work, but I learned quite a few things by experimenting, and there's so much more I want to do! But there's no time!! I used some products that are new to me, but have been hanging in my studio for eons! 

So I must get to work editing that this morning. I made more advances on email and am trying to delete what I can. Sort, unsubscribe, and delete. That's my new motto, but boy - it takes time. Of course, it does. If I were a bit more proactive about keeping on top of it, I wouldn't have thousands of unread emails in my inbox. But I'm not worried - I just don't want it to bog down my computer. 

I'm also trying to delete everything from my classes that I no longer need. Yep — it's all fun and games, and there are now about four urgent emails left to send. At this point, they are urgent or almost urgent because of my tardiness in getting them out. Hopefully, one each day for the next four days. 

Look what Lexi and I spotted on our walk. I'm surprised we haven't seen them in our pond this year. Thank goodness it was Lexi and not Murphy, as Lexi is better at controlling herself. 

The neighborhood ducks

I love the Yogi teas with their quotes. Based on the book I just read, this was very timely. But it's true. Even if you are well-balanced, we are our own worst enemy. We are afraid of making mistakes, spoiling (wasting) a piece of fabric, making a fool of ourselves, or whatever it is. We must STOP fearing things, especially when it comes to our growth. Let loose a bit, and you'd be surprised at how much more confident you become. Decision making becomes easy, and so on. Oh yes -- you can start at any age and continue to grow until you die. 

Great quote

Try it --- do something different today! Do you have a gadget or fabric that you've been meaning to try? Get it out and try it. What about a new sewing/embroidery machine? Are you using it? Get it out! Try a new style of machine embroidery. But don't be afraid. That is the worst thing you can do to yourself. Maybe it's speaking to someone you never talked to before. 

WAIT -- that reminds me of my daily walks. I often see the same people on my walks, and we say hello to each other, sometimes stopping to talk. There's one person I've seen all winter, and she was bundled up in her big parka. The parka was pulled tight around her face and had a light brown fur around the hood. 

I swear I've seen this person in the summertime. So, imagine my surprise when this "stranger" said hello yesterday. Oh my god, it's the person in the parka, but she has dark hair and is older than I had envisioned her. I swear it was the fur on the parka that threw me - I thought she was younger and blond! I had a good chuckle to myself over that one! 

I finished another quilt yesterday, but not without some issues. I had my tape marker on it and touched Start. Then, because I easily get distracted, before I knew it, it ran over my tape marker! I meant to remove it, but that didn't happen. 

I ran over the tape marker AGAIN!

Good grief -- but no worries. I removed all the tape and got a new piece for the next marker. I used to use pins for markers, and thank goodness, I'm no longer using pins. Imagine the mess? I don't want to even think about it. 

And this was a blue and white quilt. Guess what? There were lots of blue threads to clean up as it got unrolled. No fault of the maker, as you could tidy the threads, and there would still be threads. It doesn't take that long to tidy up. I'm sure I missed a few. 

Threads to tidy as the quilt was done

And can you tell me about this? I found RED threads on this quilt in several spots, once on the front and twice on the inside of the quilt top. This quilt is blue and white, and I was not working on anything red. At least, it wasn't a gold thread! So hopefully I got rid of all the red threads as well. 

A red thread? 

And there is the finished quilt. It turned out beautifully, and I love it when there are no issues with the quilt. Nice and square (yes - it's a rectangle, but you know what I mean), no gaps or anything.

Customer quilt - DONE

I've got another one lined up for later today. 

I had a few down moments yesterday, so I decided to start deleting messages from my phone. Does anyone else do that? Good grief - I'm not sure how much room all that digital garbage uses, but there is a lot of crap in my phone. 

I found this photo. It was a community project sew day at my house, and we were working on string quilts! That would have been just before the pandemic. I kind of miss those sewing days, but it would be way too much work to rearrange the room to make that happen. It was a lot of work back then, and I'm not prepared to do that much work now. 

Community projects sewing day

And I have so much of my own stuff to work on. I have everything planned for today. I'm mostly doing OK on getting stuff done. And if I don't? I'm not worrying about it. The one thing I'm trying to do is back completely away from social media of any kind. I am mindfully selecting what to watch or listen to. Yes - I get sucked into a few reels and will watch a few short clips from my favorite social media stars, but no endless scrolling. I don't have time, and I don't want to "waste" my time doing that. 

I have seven social media accounts that I follow - two are dog-related, three are related to farming, and two are about home renovations. It doesn't take long to catch up on six of them, but the one home renovation has longer videos, which I, along with a million other people, am addicted to. It's way better than any show on HGTV. They also have the podcast, which I had to pay for. 

And I've found a new author. Iona Whishaw, who is Canadian and was born in BC. Her girl detective mystery happens in or near Nelson, BC. Reminds me somewhat of Louise Penny in that there is a LOT of thinking and categorizing of details, not the blood and gore of a James Patterson, which is what I'm listening to on my audiobook. I think there are 12 books in the Lane Winslow series. I'm thoroughly enjoying the first one - A Killer In King's Cove.  

It's nice to discover new (to me) Canadian authors! 

It's a jam-packed day, and I'm fired up to accomplish what I set out to do! 

Have a super day and get outside to enjoy this beautiful weather. 

Ciao!!!