It's a BIG news kind of day!

 ACK --- that's why pictures tell a thousand words! To clarify the pressing, here are the tips again. 

Here are a few tips

• Press the just-sewn seam from the back to soften the fibers and make them more malleable. 
• Use your finger before pressing (with the steam) to get the fabric going in the correct direction. 
• Use STEAM WISELY (I ALWAYS press with steam). 
• I put a towel on my ironing board for better grip. 
• Press from the FRONT, never the back. 
• I use a regular inexpensive iron. 

Step one is to warm up the fabric, so take the two pieces you just stitched together and place the iron on the seam. Since you haven't unfolded the fabric, you are technically "pressing" from the back, but really, you're just heating the fabric to make it softer and easier to fold over when you press. This is especially important for those hard-to-press areas, like the tips of flying geese. So even when you have to press back against a lot of seams, pre-warming the fabric can make a huge difference. 

Sorry for that confusion. I should actually clarify all those steps. Let me attempt to take some photos today because pressing is very important. 

It's amazing how things cross your path when you are in the midst of some situation. Read number three!! Isn't that what I talked about yesterday? I didn't even write my email in anger because what is the point? It was sent to me in anger, but if I retaliate in anger, that gets us nowhere. Then, as I thought about it over the weekend, it became such a trivial thing, and I had the choice to let it go, which I did. No regrets about that, and I should try to do that more often! 

Number Three is VERY important.

Here is another word of wisdom which fits in with my retreat planning. While numbers 7 and 8 are very valid, number nine is too. I have a few small things in a container that need to be fixed - some sewing and some not. So those are going with me to the retreat to fix. 

Number nine—make a list and get fixing!

Our big news of the day is this. Bear was back to sitting in the window guarding the house. And he did a great job. The other dogs were running to his side every time he barked, which was about every 20 minutes. DH was on the phone, and I was trying to keep the girls quiet. Let's just say that it was a crazy day with the new guard on duty! 

GIRLS -- be alert! People are walking outside the house!!!

And when I got up this morning, I had a bit of a panic attack. I could NOT find him. Where the heck did he go? Because he usually sleeps on top of the duvet. OH -- here he was, right in the middle of the bed, UNDER the duvet. That little devil!!!

And when he wasn't in the window, he was in DH's office, asleep in his bed. 

Grandma -- I'm supervising Grandpa!

Typically, our girls don't care what's happening outside these days. But both were quite alert to what was happening outside because of Bear!

Lexi -- you are not standing up tall enough! 

And Lexi is NOT leaving anything in her dish because if she does, Bear will eat it. And of course, Murphy has to inspect all food dishes once they are empty and make sure they're actually empty!

Mom - just to confirm - Lexi ate all her food. I licked the empty bowl to ensure no crumbs remained.

These girls and the boy are very helpful in getting things done in the house! I swear, with all their antics last night and trying to get them all fed, it took me at least an hour to eat my salad!

There are now two things that I am missing in Studio B. One is a bright project (Jackqueline de Jonge)  -- I have the pattern, but where is the project box? And there is a small cushion that I embroidered. I was going to change the way it went together, and can I find that? Nope! We need a search intervention! I have a couple of other spots to check. 

But while I was checking, I did discover TWO relatively large areas in the storage closets, and I'm going to fill them with things that were on those current project tables. 

While I was looking for that, I spotted this box. It's another vintage jigsaw puzzle from my Grandmother. 

Vintage jigsaw box from my grandma

Actually, there are no jigsaw pieces in the box. No idea where they went, but the box contains a cathedral window project my Grandmother started. Alas, I've had it for years, and it's nowhere near finished. 

No traditional puzzle pieces - the bits for a cathedral window quilt instead

There's even more great news. I accomplished a lot of sewing during Monday Sewing, and I won't share it with you until next week. 

And there's even more news! This quilt got quilted. It's been so long since I quilted anything; I wondered if I would remember all the steps. But yes - it all came back! I've done so many with the computer that it's just like riding a bike - you don't forget. The magnets worked just great, but I don't think I loaded the quilt properly - well, the way I put the magnets on. I must watch a video to see how others do it. It felt so loose compared to what I typically do, but it was fine and perfectly even at the bottom. The leader could be rolled tighter, too. But you know what? It works, and I hope to get a customer quilt done today. 

Community project quilt - done

That quilt is part of the 11 quilts I am doing as a favor. I think there are four more, and I dug out the fabric to make the scrappy backing for the next one. Actually, an idea just popped into my head for my scrap class, so I must write that down before I forget it! 

I have a wee technical issue. Of course I do. I was going to get to work on some machine embroidery designs, but they are on a CD, and I need to transfer them to my computer. I dug out my portable CD drive and attached it to my Windows 11 computer. The disk appears in the file directory for a second, then disappears.  

I tried my desktop - no go. I could see the CD drive and tried to open it, but it said it couldn't. Then I dug out my old Windows 10 laptop; it went into hibernation mode, and I couldn't get it working again. 

I have no idea what the problem is, so I'm off to the library this morning to see if they have a CD drive I can use. And this should be a lesson to me—get ALL your files off digital CDs and disks and onto a hard disk. 

Another one of my tasks for the year may have just moved up the priority list! 

External CD drive

We had our very own film premiere at the house last night. By the way, it's the Toronto Film Festival this week, and over 250 films are premiering. M and Yagana came over, and we got to see the wedding video. We had seen the trailer a while back, but not the full video. WOW—the photography crew did an amazing job, and there were so many drone shots. Who knew there was even a drone at the wedding? No clue. 

The premiere of Earth Meets Water.

I hope I got the name correct. I'll try to get a screenshot of the title and more information tomorrow. Running short on time. 

It is so fun to go back and relive that very happy day, and I think M must look at it every day. Which was pretty obvious from Bear's reaction to the video. Bear had a star role in the film, but he didn't care! He looked so handsome in his white shirt and green bow tie that Grandma made for him! 

MOM - not again!! 

And of course, there are tons of photos, so I must go through them and pick out a couple of my favorites. That is going to be a very hard task because there are so many. 

Upon reviewing the photos and watching the video, we all commented on how nice it was to have such a small, intimate wedding. Everyone got to chat to everyone else, and it was so beautiful. The couple is so in love and so happy, which makes me happy. We got to see some behind-the-scenes candid moments with the bride and groom. Things I didn't know happened! But so beautiful. 

And the weather that day? It was literally the most perfect day I could imagine. Never mind that the beach at Wickinnish Inn is absolutely stunning. But then so were the bride and groom!

Here's one last picture - this was how Bear took control of the household pretty much as soon as he got up yesterday. I got his stairs out of the closet so he could go up and down in the big dog bed in the window, and he definitely told the neighborhood that he was back!!!

ATTENTION - I am back, and I am in charge! 

And yes, M is staying with Yagana. It's like when I go home - I no longer stay with my parents, and that's a good thing. While we love our parents, who wants to be with them 100% of the time? So I totally get that she stays with her longtime friend - our adopted daughter! 

I'm going to be a bit late getting to the gym and I even contemplated not going. But I must! I didn't have a great sleep - and definitely not long enough- but when my alarm woke me up, I knew I wasn't going to go back to sleep. So I might as well go and get that done, and I can have a nap this afternoon. 

I see that my Google Drive is FULL, and I have 29 days in which to clear out photos or email, or I'm in big trouble. So I guess I'll be doing that today. Wait—I have to take the car in to get a slow-leaking tire fixed, so if I take my laptop, I could do some cleaning then! Good plan. 

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

I could say, "Have a great day," or I could say, "Today is going to be a wonderful day." But what if I say this? "I choose to make today a wonderful day!!!!"

Which statement is the most powerful and puts me in control? And if something happens, only I can choose how I react to make the day good or bad! 

Ciao!!!!