It's a GOOD news day!!!!

I chuckle at all the higher-toilet comments. This might be too much information, but I am not a tall person (66"), and I'm not sure what my inseam is - probably around 30". When I am sitting on the toilet, I need to be at a certain angle. I find the higher toilets are too high for my comfort. So I'm going to keep doing my standing squats so I can keep using the lower toilet! It's hilarious—but I can't use the higher toilet! How do vertically challenged people cope?  

Thanks for the recommendation of The Calamity Club. Oh my -- it's 29 hours!! I've just added it to my HOLD list, which is over 30 books, with 6 books in my inbox. One of those needs to be returned, and I'm partway through several of the others. I have so many in suspended status! Perhaps I've been a bit overzealous in the reading department. But that's OK. 

I must learn to rely on tagging the books as "want to read," but like that elusive Sunday morning pill, that habit just hasn't hit me yet. 

YES -- I am waiting 30 minutes before making breakfast—yet again, even though I've been up for several hours. OK—so maybe I do need to set an alarm on my phone for 5:30 AM. You would think this would be easy, but it's not, and I have another 12 weeks of pills! Yeah me!!!

And to clarify one thing I mentioned yesterday about AI. What I dislike about using AI as a search engine is that it finds the information I asked for. It doesn't let me browse the stuff I didn't ask for, and sometimes there are interesting tidbits there that are very useful. Sorry for that confusion! I love learning, and allowing AI to narrow down the search prevents me from learning other useful and sometimes useless stuff! But at least I get to choose, not a computer. 

Well, it's a good news kind of day!! Why? Take a look. 

I double-checked that the leader on the long arm was loaded in the correct orientation - clockwise versus counterclockwise. That was kind of hard to find online, but I did. When I first took the leader off, I had noted it with a piece of tape on my metal bar, but I didn't trust it. However, the tape indicator was correct, so I went ahead and secured the leader with wide painter's tape. 

The leader is secured with tape.

Using the Sew Tite Magnum magnets to hold that leader in place made this an easy task. I had a pair of scissors in one hand and the roll of tape in the other, and within two minutes, this part of the tape was in place. 

Then I took the roll and added a single layer of tape along the length of the leader. 

The second step in taping the leader in place

Hmm—that took another 2 minutes, and then it was done! 

I rolled it up, and it could be a bit tighter, but hopefully that will happen as I use the long arm. At least it's even on the edges, and that's all that counts. 

Then, since I was on a roll, I decided to load a quilt backing. Oh my—that was hilarious. I started placing the magnets on and then realized I was NOT attaching the back—just adding the magnets to the metal bars in the leader. OK—let's try that again!! And before I knew it, the backing was secured. Magnets on one side and pins on the other. 

The backing is loaded.

This is one of the community project quilts, and I realized I didn't have any batting made. So I grabbed three pieces, and I'll join them later, and I hope to get this quilt done today. Then I can move to some customer quilts. I have only three, so that shouldn't take too long. Perhaps I can squeeze in some from that huge pile of community project quilts. What I need to do is focus on that group of 11 and get that out of here! I think there are five left, including the one on the long arm. 

Then it was on to the next project: finishing the appliqué on those two winter quilts. And I'm happy to report that it is done! The appliqué on both blocks is complete! 

Progress on the winter quilts

You won't remember this, but the bells on the bottom right were NOT done, but I got those blocks completed yesterday as well. Yep—they are scrappy, as I couldn't find enough big pieces, and when I did, I managed to mess up the instructions, and well, it gave me another picture for my scrap class!

The bell blocks

But here they are --- the two winter quilt tops. 

Progress on the two winter quilts

All that remains is to make 88 flying geese. And if I had been smart, when I pieced Down on the Farm with all those stitch n flip corners, I should have been using these flying geese as my enders and leaders instead of those scrappy triangles. Alas -- that didn't happen. 

But I managed to get this much done yesterday. 

Progress on the flying geese

It's a start, and this morning, I got more cut, and I'm ready to sew. I don't think I have enough white squares, but I'll cut more from my scrap bucket when needed. Who can be bothered to count?

Ready to sew

Once those are done, then I get to sew the quilt top together. I need to find two fabrics for borders and binding. And then the back. I'm making progress, but I'm going to have to put it aside because I need to work on the class prep for next weekend. 

I'll see how the day goes!! It would be nice to get this off the wall, and I'm close, so I may get that far at least. 

I put away a few things that were on the cutting table. These batik strips are to die for!! You can find others like them at Heather Bell's Sewing Studio! 

Striped batik fabrics

Miss Murphy is doing OK. She only coughed once during the day and twice last night, so she seems to be getting over whatever this is. I left a message at the vet, but they didn't call me back yesterday. If she continues to improve, then there's no need to take her next week. 

But I'm noticing lots of changes in the behavior of the two. It's like Miss Lexi is coming out of her shell. No longer dominated by Murphy, she is becoming more "aggressive." She wants to play, and Murphy is the one to stand still (or lie down), and Lexi does all the running. Murphy is doing great on the stairs; she is allowed to go down as she seems to have zero issues, but she waits for me to help her up. We kind of have the hang of it now, but I keep the stairs barricaded at all times so we don't end up with a disaster. 

She doesn't make a fuss about not going downstairs, although she does come down every so often. It's just not the same, but this is life. She still has lots of love to give, and we have lots of love to give her, and we've found a way to work around her issues. The only thing we can do is to keep her comfortable and make sure she gets lots of love every day. 

OH MY GOSH -- you would think she is dying from my comments. She is not - she's just getting old, and because she was so boisterous, it shows more than it would with Lexi. 

And Lexi seems to be less skittish as well. She stands at the door to the office, asking to go out! And she will come and stand right beside me and let me hug her, which she never allowed before. It's strange how their behavior changes as they age. 

MOM - I'm ready for my walk! NOW!!

And this is the ONLY dog bed they share. Never at the same time, of course! But if the blankets aren't nicely laid out, she won't sleep there. 

Well, I've become Miss Chatty Cathy with the neighbors! I stop and talk to anyone or at least say HI. There is a house two doors from us - the same house as ours. That house was purchased about 4 years ago for an exorbitant amount of money. A real estate agent bought the house. It was funny because the house was the same as ours, and the lady who lived there before the real estate agent was named Elaine. 

Anyway, a while back, the house went up for sale, and she was asking for MORE money than she paid. She bought it just before the market crashed, and I swore there was NO WAY she was going to find a buyer. Imagine my surprise when I saw her putting a SOLD sign on the house as I was returning to the house with Lexi. 

Of course, I had to stop and chat. She was never forthcoming with any neighbor during all the time she lived here. The occasional glance, but that was it. 

Yes—she sold the house, and the closing is next month. A family is moving in. I checked the price online, and she sold it for $50K over what she paid. I am STUNNED. Who the heck bought the house? Now I have visions of a family of five adults moving in, and the driveway will be packed with cars. It can only hold two cars. 

The backyard is huge, but it doesn't back onto the forest, yet it sort of does. Because the house is on the corner, it backs onto two other houses and has a narrow gate into the forest where the two yards meet. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed that we get good neighbors. There are two other houses for sale on the street (this is unheard of), and both of them were significantly less money. 

At dinner last night, DH and I discussed it and said - she must have fudged the numbers. The house still has its original carpet everywhere - that would be 30 years old. And no bathroom or kitchen updates. It's all very suspicious to me. 

We got really nice new neighbors two houses in the opposite direction; can we be so lucky again? 

I think my alarm system is on point with the day and time, but the weather? Not so much!!!

The panel is half right!

I really lucked out with my fish. They had a lot of babies, and they are growing like weeds. 

These are the baby fish.

I never see more than five big ones at a time, so perhaps two didn't make it, but the babies more than make up for it if we lost two. We now have new electrical plugs and a new bubbler, so there should be zero issues for the winter. I often see the fish swimming amongst the leaves, so this is the perfect setup. They have shade, and they have sun. 

The fish love the pond.

Someone posted a note in a puzzle group about this the other day. How can so many border pieces of a puzzle be missing? To be sure - this doesn't look like enough border pieces. 

All the border pieces for a 1000-piece puzzle

But within a "few" minutes, the border was together. I feel like I speed-puzzed that one together, although in speed puzzling, few people focus on only one area at a time unless it's an event with two people, aptly called a pairs event. 

The border is together.

I didn't do more than that because I have some reading to catch up on. In addition to the ebook and audiobooks, I have a few physical books from the library that I must get read! No one can accuse me of not having personal time! I am taking way too much personal time!

Here's an interesting sign at a local Michael's store - learn to sew!!! Michaels is now selling Singer sewing machines. Well, they have been for a while now, but there is a big push, especially since they are now selling fabric. 

All about sewing at Michaels

I'll be hosting a "Teach The World to Sew Day" in the afternoon of September 19th at a Michaels in downtown Toronto. That should be fun—I hope we get loads of people out! 

How true is this? How much do we want to think that we are irreplaceable and yet ignore the fact that someone else can do just as good a job? 

Therefore, we need to take some time and do stuff for ourselves, which I seem to have zero problem doing! I love sitting in the gazebo, with my new cushion, and listening to the water. Reading, napping, petting the dogs, or whatever makes me happy at that moment. 

I'm really liking this weather—it's cool in the mornings and nice in the afternoon! 

On that note, it's time to get moving! 

It is going to be a wonderful day!!!!

Ciao!!!