Day One at Retreat at the Farm

In case anyone thought I was too harsh yesterday about my comments about the planet, I want to clarify that slightly. Yes, people visit these places to learn about them, and then they can be protected, but there are two types of people. OK -- so I'm generalizing there -- there are many types of people, but to keep this train of thought somewhat simple. There are two types of tourists -- those who just want to conquer the place/event so they can check that item off their to-do list. Get to the end as quick as possible, get to the top as quick as possible, be the oldest, the youngest, the one with the most times doing the attraction. These people are there just for the "likes," and most couldn't tell you anything about the place when they are done. 

Then some will respect and admire the work, the trip, the spiritual reason, or whatever, for that place. There is so much history in the world, and many people are totally ignoring that. 

I don't have time to fully format my thoughts on this, but it's well known that, whether you are a careful tourist or not, the mere act of visiting damages those areas! Erosion (by the very walking of your feet) and hands, etc. At least if we are going to visit, we should be respectful, and I know many are! But just as many are not! The amount of toilet paper left on the Camino is disgusting. 

Everyone talks about how exciting it is to go on a safari. We did two different safaris in Africa, and thankfully, they were short - the first one was one day, the second was only a couple of hours. I felt awful as the jeep roared around the habitat of these wild animals, trying to find them. There were many other jeeps. It was intrusive, and what a waste of fuel and pollution to this beautiful environment. 

I would NOT do a safari in an animal reserve again! I shouldn't say never, but it was hard, even for me, to keep up the enthusiasm of aimlessly driving around so I could get a picture of a lion! Seriously? 

I thoroughly enjoyed the balloon ride over the park. It was still disruptive to the animals, but not nearly as much. 

Thanks so much for the comments, because 1000% this is "progress," but all progress has done is remove some beautiful countryside around the world. It's very sad and disruptive. So I'm not against progress because we need it, but our politicians and corporations all over the world are not in tune with our environment - they just think of money! 

As for being a tourist in your own country? I'm right in there! Some people have never been outside their province (our provinces are huge), but still. They have never been to the West or East Coast. Yet they have zero qualms about hopping in the car and heading south, or hopping on a plane. What about our beautiful country? I can happily report that I've been to all provinces and territories, EXCEPT for Nunavut. I need to get there. And there are many places where I would love to go back, and of course, many places that I haven't explored yet. 

As I drove up yesterday, I was thinking about what to do for the remainder of the summer. Instead of going anywhere big, I think I'll stay in my home province and take day or multi-day trips within it! I haven't explored many areas of Ontario, and there is loads to do. I could stay home, but seriously—it's fun to get out and just explore. I wonder how DH will cope. And I need to get Murphy to the lake! 

Enough about that! Let's talk about the retreat. 

My plan was to leave my house at 8:45, and I was right on the money. It is so easy to keep to a schedule when you travel alone. The girls were not happy because there were fewer opportunities to sniff, but I had a plan! The girls each got a fancy cookie for being good girls on their walks. 

Leaving right on time

I didn't take a picture of the car once it was packed, but it took a few trips to get everything from the car to the house! And there were still four bags of books in the car!!! 

What I brought to the retreat

Wait -- there's more. I brought a cutting mat, a lightbox for someone to use, and a box of fleece scraps. Don't worry -- I did NOT overpack. Wait, and you'll see what I mean. 

More stuff that I brought

Then I set up the sewing room for the six of us and got myself ready to cut. I raised the table so I could cut. The cutting table at this retreat is in a different room, and it's hard to chat when you are not in the same room, so I came prepared. 

My cutting table

I had brought two lidded tubs of fleece scraps. One of them contained squares of fleece that had been cut to 6 1/2". The second tub was filled with odds and ends of fleece scraps that had accumulated over the years. One of the pieces of fleece was from a pea pod costume I made for M when she was two!! There was a round laundry basket and a small open tub (on the table) filled with scraps. Good grief!!! I was determined to deal with this once and for all. 

Prepping to cut fleece scraps

I emptied the laundry basket onto the table and then started sorting. I cut 6 1/2" squares where I could. Then I cut pieces that were 6 1/2" wide, but not long enough to make a square. Those pieces will be joined and then cut to size. That's the bits on the right, and the bits on the left are smaller squares that I'll join to make very scrappy squares. Don't worry -- it's my time, and it makes me happy to do this, so I don't mind one bit. 

The pieces that will be joined to become squares

Some larger pieces will be perfect for sewing together to make quilt backings. Yeah --- more backings! I probably have enough to make two backings. 

Larger pieces to make backings

OH MY _- look at the cutting mat. I knew this was going to happen, so that's why I brought my own. I didn't bring my mat cleaner, but I don't plan on cutting anything else on it, so I'll take it home like this and then clean it. 

A wee bit of a mess on the cutting mat

There's the box of cut squares. My plan was to sew them together and make some fleece blankets (quilts). Then I thought I would donate them to a group that makes fidget quilts for a texture block. Once I see how many I have, I might do a bit of both. 

The cut squares

A couple more pieces got added to the yardage bucket this morning. 

The larger pieces

Here's the bucket of scraps, which I will probably stuff a couple of pet mats with. Nothing goes to waste! Just a reminder that texture waste is one of the biggest fillers in the landfills! Fast fashion and all!!

Very small scraps of fleece

And this is the basket with the bits that need to be sewn together! Yikes!!!! But I would rather focus on this and get it out of my house. Those bins have been taking up a ton of space, and I was tired of moving them. Once I'm finished cutting this morning, I will put this back in the car, and then I can work on other stuff. This basket can come back to the next retreat, or I'll schedule a couple of "at-home" retreat days and work on it. 

The bits to make blogs

This is all that remains to be cut once I finish writing the blog!!! Yep—I'm pretty excited about that, and then I can move FOUR bins back to the car. Then I'll set up the sewing machine, lower the table to the regular height, and pick something to sew, although I have some hand sewing and knitting with me as well. Since there are very experienced knitters in this group, I had better use my time wisely, as I have a small issue, and I bet one of them can help me. 

All that remains to be cut.

Once this fleece and the flannel are used up, I vow never to buy either material again!!! That is my goal - use up the flannel and use up the fleece. I brought a flannel quilt (squares) with me to sew together. It's one of MY community project quilts. The blocks are made from cut-offs left over after trimming quilts. 

I love the sewing room at this retreat house because three sides of the room are windows, and the sun pours in. It's so bright, you don't need to turn on the lights until later in the day. While there are blinds on the windows, the top part isn't covered, so at some point in the day, it's a challenge for one of the sewing spots because of the sun. 

However, the person who picked that spot happened to have sunglasses AND a hat. It worked perfectly, so she was able to keep sewing. But she looked so much like those cowboys back in the day with their heads bowed. She wasn't sleeping -- she was sewing!!! 

Who is that masked sewist?

Some people absolutely LOVE those clips! This person is making napkins and has everything clipped and ready to sew!!!!

That's a lot of clips.

And what a clever idea to wrap spools of thread in!!! That is an elastic bandage. NO -- it's not an elastic bandage, but one of those with a sticky surface so it sticks to itself. What a brilliant idea for taming threads!!!!!

WAIT -- I just Googled it and found it. It's just called a wrap (made by 3M - at least the brand I spotted) and is used to secure splints, ice packs, dressings, etc. Did you know that you can buy a 1" by 5-yard roll for $3.25? That's way cheaper than buying a roll of the clear plastic tape made for quilters. WOW!!!!! 

I went for a short walk to the end of the driveway, but I still got loads of steps with all the loading and unloading of the car. 

WAIT -- for anyone who has a Fitbit and uses the app, it changed to Google Health last night!!! Oh dear—the information looks different, but it's the same information. I'll have to investigate that later today. 

Well, let's see what today brings, and it's time to finish cutting and get to work on something else!!!!! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!