Conquering GOALS one at a time!

I won't bore you with the details, but I LOVE cleaning up the digital mess. In a way, it's the same deal as with a physical mess. The task is daunting, and you have no idea where to start. But once you make a plan, then it starts to fall into place. I find I'm spending a little more time than I have at the moment on this task. It's therapeutic and FUN!!! OK - I must be mad!

I can see there's a lot more work ahead of me. Duplicate and triplicate files, stuff in randomly named folders, and well, it's going to take a long time to clean this up. But now that I'm MOVING, not copying, it's going to be easier, and I'm learning a whole lot about DELETE. OK - I already knew about that, but I'm being ruthless. Well, I haven't got to the big, ruthless part yet! I'm mostly still sorting. 

My first priority was to get the files somewhat organized into three spots. I have three external hard drives: one for sewing, one for photos, and the third, which I wasn't planning to use, will become the admin drive. That may change over time, but I think that's a good split. I managed to get all the unfiled items in that one folder taken care of - they are now in a folder. It may not be in the right spot, but they are all corralled. 

Here's an example of my previous file folder names --- Stuff from the USB drive, Things to deal with, and to be printed. Seriously? And if I print something, I never go back and delete it!! Oh my ---- what a mess an unfocused mind can make! 

Random file names

Next up: move the files from the photo hard disk that shouldn't be there. And I'm starting to deal with the stuff on OneDrive, too. 

I have almost accomplished one of my goals for this month: corral all the Machine Embroidery files in one spot. Mission is nearly completed. I still have to look at my old computer, then double-check through OneDrive. That task will be done unless I find a rogue file here and there. So that was HUGE, and it only happened because I have goals!!!!

I cleaned up the Admin Hard drive, but don't be fooled. Within each of those categories is a HUGE mess. Even though I have plenty of room, I think I'm going to delete the Fabric Downloads folder. That was mostly for when I was working at a fabric company and doing a lot of quilt designing. Now that I don't design much for magazines and such, there's really no need for that folder. And most of the stuff has been downloaded into specific EQ8 files. If I need something, I can always download it again! And I'm not touching the OneDrive folder, as that is the backup. I need to learn more about that. 

The Admin Hard Drive

OK -- I hear you --- ALL of those fabrics, except the blenders (and even then) are NO LONGER available, so what's the point of keeping a digital file to design a quilt? I will take a quick peek after walking the girls and then delete the entire folder! 

As for the pictures, that stuff will eventually all be moved to the other hard disk, so all the photos will be together. But there are folders and folders of pictures. As there are folders and folders of stuff in the MyDocuments. I'm getting there. And I'm doing it MY WAY!!!!

Speaking of goals, I can now share this with you. So not only did I pick a word for 2026, which was GOALS, but I wanted to have a visual reminder of the word, so I can hang it up and be reminded each day that I have a word for 2026. Check out this QUILTsocial blog post to see what I did. I LOVE it, and the whole thing just fell into place without much planning on my part. 

I often design with my gut, and for the most part, it serves me well!!!

And if you want to check out the edge-to-edge quilting with the new Husqvarna Viking Large Magnetic Hoop, check out this site!!! Oh my --- I will NEVER do machine embroidery quilting, edge-to-edge in a traditional hoop again! EVER!!!

Dede came over in the morning, and we completed a UFO. OH MY -- I can't share it with you yet, but it's stunning, and we are both thrilled with the result. But we did have an accident. This is what happens when you apply too much hammering to a small rotary cutting mat! The mat appeared to have a lot of cracks - was it cold? Was it old? Or did we do all that damage? 

The cutting mat split!

After she left, I consolidated items that needed attention and set them on one of the worktables. I put away the things that had been left out. 

Stuff to put away or deal with

And then I got to work on one of the projects that had been sitting on the current project table for a while. 

This is my Barn Star Sampler quilt that I taught a couple of years ago. It is a giant quilt at 80 by 100 inches. I had already made a quilt back and binding for it. You can see the yellow background in the photo above on the top left. 

Barn Star Sampler quilt

But then I found this fabric in my stash and decided I like it better. I don't think I have ever done that before - switch out a backing when it was already made. While it doesn't really show in the photos, the colors in the quilt are exactly like the new backing fabric, and there was JUST ENOUGH. So that quilt has a new backing, and it's off the current project table, and back in the "to be quilted" pile. 

The new quilt backing

From time to time, I receive random pieces of fabric. They magically appear along with other things I said I would take. I could pretty much tell by the feel of this one that it was NOT cotton. Then I ironed a small piece of it, and, yep —you can smell it's not cotton. But to be 100% sure, I did the burn test. My pie candle was burning, so I decided to burn a wee bit of it, and it didn't burn; it just melted and became a hard, lumpy mess in that spot. This piece of fabric is now in the bag of textiles that I'm saving to give to one of those places that recycle textiles. I must get cracking on finding out where that is, as that bag is getting full. 

The burn test resulted in melting!! Not ash --- this is not cotton

And look at the cartoon I found when sorting through files!! Most of the files I did not open, as I could tell by the folder or the file name where they belonged, but there were several that I had to open because they were randomly named. I got a chuckle. The file is now deleted! I would like to say that my junk drawer was cleaned out years ago, and it is exactly the same as it was after I cleaned it! That's a huge positive. I'm learning as I go, and not regressing into old habits!!

How appropriate

I did some other work, but I haven't gotten that binding on yet. The quilt is trimmed, and the binding will be a job for today. But now I must switch gears and get to work on that second quilt. The days are quickly zipping by, and before I know it, the deadline will be here, and I won't be done. I can't have that, so after binding that quilt, I need to focus on meeting another goal!! Meeting those goals is hard work! And no rest for the ambitious!

So far, I seem to be good at adding things to my digital To-Do list. And I love the fact that it's available to me on all platforms. What I need to be better at is scheduling the due dates and actually getting the stuff done! That will come, but I think I like it and will use it!! There's a learning curve to everything, and I'm perhaps biting off a bit more than I can chew at the moment. 

On that happy note, I'm out of here!! Lots to do, and I see we got some snow overnight, but not much, so it shouldn't take too long to shovel. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!