Be careful what you impulse buy!!!!

I swear this winter is hanging on as long as it possibly can. We had a cool, but sunny day yesterday, and things were melting like mad. There is still some snow on the small pathway that leads to our backyard, and I was so tempted to help it melt by shoveling what's left, but I didn't. What will the neighbors think!!!!

And I spotted a house on the next street over that is the same house as ours, but with a metal roof. It faces the same direction as our house, although perhaps not quite the exact same angle, and guess what? It STILL had snow on the roof in the valleys around that window!! By the way -- before last night, all the snow was gone from our roof. And I need to pursue locating an engineer who can help evaluate the situation. 

The sidewalls were very dangerous in the morning, with a thin layer of ice in lots of places. By the afternoon, everything was dry. And guess what? We had just a skiff of snow last night, so we now have the potential for ice this morning. Sigh...........  

But the days are getting longer, the sun is shining more, and spring is on its way!!!! 

It's March 1, and it's M's 30th birthday. How the heck did that happen? Happy Birthday, M --- love you to the moon and back, even though we don't get to see you that often. Maybe one day, Mom and Dad will pick up roots in a city that really doesn't have roots for us and move. 

Speaking of melting snow, the gazebo is clear of snow. I could get my chair out, sit down, and do some gazebo bathing. Heck - it's close enough to the forest and surrounded by trees, I could call it forest bathing! 

It's almost lounging outdoors time!

We still have lots of snow in the backyard because it doesn't get direct sunlight all day. The girls are having fun romping around, especially if I'm outside! 

Hey Lexi -- you can't catch me!!!!

I have to laugh about this because when we were at the quilt store the other day, I bought an IMPULSE item. I saw this kit to make two bowl cozies, and I have wanted to make one for a long time to use when I heat my bowl of soup in the microwave. For $12.00, you get fabric and the batting to make two of them. 

A kit to make two bowl cozies

So nothing funny about that. Then, when we went to Michael's, we were looking for the fabric aisle, which I hear is at the store in Kitchener. I agree - the fabric is NOT the best quality, and they have a lot of novelty prints, but I did find some funky stuff in North Vancouver. Anyway, while we were there, I spotted an entire bag of the Wrap and Zap batting product for $11.99!!!! With a coupon and my senior discount, I could have practically stolen it, and I have tons of fabric at home. Oh well. 

I don't remember working on this yesterday, but maybe I did. Well, if you've already seen it, here it is again. I now have the blocks in three rows. I've cut some more black and sorted out the other pieces of black to make this big enough to serve as the backing for my abbreviated version of Dear Jen. 

Working on the backing for Dear Jen

I was hoping to get more sewing done yesterday, but the quilt on the long arm required a LOT of babysitting. Constant babysitting, and even then, there are a few spots where the fabric went wonky. Don't worry -- it's my quilt. The denim I bought for the quilt was labelled 100% cotton, and 100% cotton denim has some stretch, but this denim had spandex or lycra in it, and, as it was quilted, the fabric wanted to tuck because of the quilting design. It has small tucks, and no one will notice, but I had to babysit to prevent even more tucks. 

My quilt

It turned out way nicer than I envisioned, and I'm really happy with it. You'll see more of the quilt if you watch my Facebook Live on machine embroidery on March 18. Even if you don't have an embroidery machine, I think it's a good idea to watch. You can learn about the technology in the sewing and embroidery world, and someday you may want to do this. You do NOT need a high-end embroidery machine! 

It seemed it was a day filled with laughter, as I had a few small bits of paper that I had pulled from somewhere, and I needed to deal with them. 

At some point, I had purchased a box of small quotes - they were notes that you could slip into someone's lunch box or briefcase. I only found one of the notes; I have no idea where the others are, and maybe I used them all. 

The little notecard

Inside the notecard

Inside the notecard

Isn't that nice? I'm all about celebrating anything! Just like in The Artist's Way -- you need to celebrate everything, no matter how small. It's important! Very Important!!! 

Nothing funny about that, but I also found this piece of paper, and if you're not familiar with the terms, that file listed is the contacts list in Outlook. That was probably me trying to find the file or move it from another computer, many years ago. That paper is gone, but I kept the card because it can be used in a junk journal, which I will get to at some point because I'm feeling so much freer in my time. 

The elusive contacts file for Outlook

So much so that I sometimes feel lost. Am I really allowed to sew on my projects without an immediate deadline? How is this possible? 

I also got some machine embroidery done. While I was babysitting the long arm, I let the embroidery machine run. At one point, I needed to dig out my metal hoops, which I keep stored in their original boxes. They all contain some very powerful magnets. 

The long arm had finished, and so had the embroidery machine. I left the long arm and went to the embroidery machine. I realized I needed more magnets, which were in another box. When I returned to the shelf, I spotted this. 

My "lost" scissors

Good grief — the scissors I use for long-arming got attracted to the magnets in the box and were stuck there. Good thing I did my tasks in the sequence I did, because I would have needed the scissors for the long arm to cut the thread. I would have seen they were missing, but I would NEVER have thought to check those boxes!!! I might still be looking for them this morning. 

While I was watching a video, I managed to get all the letters off one of the borders. One down and one more border to go. 

Removing the lettering from the border

I've been wracking my brain to see if I could do anything with the photo-transferred pictures. Could I make a sample of them? And if so? What? If I were going to make a sample with photo transfers, it would be nice if the people were ones I knew. I thought of making a picture book and giving it to the family member who asked for the quilt. But I think I just need to bite the bullet, cut the pictures up into scraps, and put them in a pet mat. 

Yes -- I can give myself permission to do that. But I can't just yet. Help me!!!

Both of our girls are exhibiting completely different behaviors. While Murphy is still full of vim and vigor, she has become obsessed with sleeping in Studio B. I think I mentioned that, and yesterday I caught her hesitating much longer than usual at the bottom, gathering the courage to go up! I must put those little carpets on the treads and see if that makes her feel safer. She has learned to slow down before attempting the stairs because she slips. But this hesitation to even start is new. 

She won't come upstairs (2nd level) anymore, and if she does, it's just to see that I'm OK, then she goes back downstairs. I know she is slowing down, but it's almost time for them to go outside, and she is nowhere to be found. 

But give her a ball, and well, she reminds me of Chuck and his ball, Wilson (Castaway). I swear she is trying to talk to it!

Hello Chuck (the balls are called Chuck-it!)

But Murphy was a very good girl yesterday. We met up with Suzie, who was walking Dexter, and she didn't bark. Since we were both going in the same direction, we were able to have a chat. I swear that is the FIRST time that Murphy didn't attempt to bark at another dog, and we could walk together. Way to go, Murphy!!!!

After dinner, I got one more of the Dowdle FolkArt puzzles done! Two pieces were missing from this one. 

Spring Dowdle FolkArt puzzle

There is a girl I follow on IG who is a professional puzzler. Anyway, she does puzzle competitions and stuff like that. I haven't seen a post in weeks, but last night, one came up about how to become a speed puzzler. Good grief -- she had a 500-piece puzzle that she assembled in less than ONE hour! This 300-piece puzzle took two hours or maybe a bit more. HEY --- I'm not doing this to stress myself out - I'm doing it for fun!

So I read The Artist's Way the other day. Actually, I listened to it. I had also downloaded the abridged version, which is 3 hours instead of 12. I listened to that yesterday, and obviously it's much shorter, no quotes, and not as many lists! But if you are looking for a quick read, there's some good stuff in it, and obviously lots of the same stories. 

The book is not just about creativity and art. The book is about changing your life, learning to celebrate each and every little thing. It's about decluttering your house and your mind so that you can live without all that baggage. There are many good lessons in the book. 

I thought I was doing well, but the more I declutter my schedule, the office, my life, the better I feel, and I have so much "free" time. I'm giddy with excitement. I'm now free to do the things that I have wanted to do for a long time. And I can do it guilt-free. And when the day comes for me to move, I won't have much crap to move. 

There is one quote from the book that I love, and it is attributed to Miles Davis: "Do not fear mistakes. There are none!"  That is so true. I can't tell you that often enough, and you'll hear Julia mention it multiple times in The Artist's Way. Those "mistakes" are simply steps along the journey. They are meant to happen -- they are part of your journey to learning and finding new ways. 

On that note, I'm out of here to see how icy those sidewalks are. I see the sidewalk plow passed about 6 AM, so they should be somewhat decent. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!