Make rules - take CONTROL!

It's another day! Of course it is. Well, if I take the book I'm reading into account, who knows what day it really is. It's called My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney, and — well —it's bizarre. At first, I thought it would be boring, but then there was a plot twist, then another, and then another. And I'm now so turned around - well, I'll just have to listen to the last 5 hours to see what happens. 

I have a road trip today; however, I have company, so I won't be able to listen. That's OK -- there's always tonight. 

As I surveyed the mess on the floor in Studio B after moving the tables filled with "current" projects, I came to a conclusion about how to solve the problem. I also found another hidey hole on a shelf, so that is three decent-sized spots to put things. 

I made a few rules so I could take control! If the project is listed on the Visual To-Do list, then it stays on the tables. If it's one of the "less than one hour" items, it stays on the tables. Anything else will find a home in a storage spot. It's going to be a challenge to do that sort, but really it shouldn't be - it fits in one category or the other, or it doesn't. It sounds simple!!

I may need to make a few more rules along the way, but I can get it cleaned up! 

The main thing here is that I am taking CONTROL of the situation, because otherwise it's driving me mad that I never make progress on what's on those tables. The other plan is to take one small project a day OKK - that may not always work out that way) and actually finish the darn thing. Seriously? Do I expect someone to stop by in the night and do the work? 

So when I get home this afternoon, I have a few things to tidy up, and I'll continue with my sorting. 

Let's start with technology because technology is never far from my mind. The first issue is the CD-ROM drive. I have no idea why my computer won't read the darn thing, so I headed off to the library to see if theirs would work. 

I had checked before, and there was no need to book a computer - there were lots available. I spoke to a person at the desk and asked if they had a CD drive, and he said no. So I was hoping mine would work. On the way there, I realized I needed TWO USB ports to connect the CD drive AND my hard drive to copy the files to. 

Thankfully, the computer had two open USB ports, but it was a challenge to connect them because they were hard to see. 

I attached my CD and external hard disk to the computer.

I took FOUR machine embroidery patterns with me, and I got them all copied into the appropriate spot on my SEWING external hard disk. I swear that breaking my files up onto three external hard disks was the best thing I ever did. It's easy to travel with them; no need for USBs and then transferring to the computer when getting home. It's brilliant. 

Transferring files

There were a lot of files, and it took quite a while. The first two groups were fast, but then the system slowed down. Anyway, while I was working, the person from the desk came over and asked how it was going. I said fine, and he said they do, in fact, have a CD drive, so I could use that in the future. That is good to know!!

So those machine embroidery files are now usable, and I should keep going to the library once a week or so to transfer the files I need. It's a nice walk to the library, so on a day when I have no other errands, I might just do that. 

Hmm—I should always do that on a Tuesday, and then I'll have no excuse to go to the thrift shop. Oh good grief—I noticed a sign the other day—the Mississauga Symphony Used Book sale is this weekend, and they have puzzles, books, games, etc. Should I go? I always find a treasure or two, and it's supporting a good cause! 

My other technology woe right now is my Google Drive, which is FULL. I got a notice yesterday that if I don't do anything, I will lose the ability to get email in 29 days! Yikes!!!! The first thing I did was turn off the photo backup on my phone. I do NOT need a backup of my photos, so I have no idea why that is there. And can you believe that when you start to clean up, it helps you! Here's a look at my BLURRY pictures. 

What Google defines as BLURRY pictures! 

Yes—there are a LOT of photos my camera takes on its own, including a couple of long videos taken from my pocket. So I'm getting rid of those, and I also tackled my email. I do not know why it is taking up so much space. A simple email shouldn't consume a ton of space, but I suspect it is all the emails with presentations/pictures attached. I need to delete everything that is no longer relevant. I've done that in the past, but I've never seen my email storage decrease.  

And I don't know why email does funky things. It's been keeping a duplicate, or almost a duplicate, of everything in an "important" folder. For heaven's sake - I don't need that. Again - it's going to be a matter of taking control and just deleting stuff instead of thinking that I will one day have time to read some of the stuff. 

I'll figure out a solution, but I need to take charge NOW!! Some of the backup photos I'm coming across are at least 10 years old. Why is all that there? I move all the photos from my phone to a hard disk, and then everything gets deleted, but it doesn't get deleted from that damn drive. Why? Because then they can sell me more storage instead of me dealing with it. I don't need more online storage. 

We discussed this the other day at lunch. Technically, why would you want ANY online storage? I'm certain that the big companies use that data for whatever purposes they deem worthy - training Google to detect blurry pictures, or identifying other things. We are so afraid of having a presence on the internet, yet if you let Google back up your photos, EVERYTHING you take is online! 

And don't worry—if you don't use Google, I'm sure Apple has all kinds of crap in its cloud. I also don't get this new trend of tracking people! Why the heck would you want that? I know several people who track family members or friends. Seriously? That is an invasion of privacy - I don't care if you are my mom or my sister - it is NONE of your business where I am at this point in time. And if I can track you, then everyone else in the world can track you as well. It's just darn creepy! 

Now -- if I were a risk because of mental health or whatever, then it may have a place, but in the unlikely event you are kidnapped, the first thing they are going to do is take your phone away, so what's the point? And your phone is constantly pinging a cell tower, so if you were kidnapped, they would use that to help locate you. 

I struggle with the overload of data as it is - I certainly don't want more! 

Back to the email - I'm going to try and eliminate everything except my current projects from online. NOTHING needs to be backed up, and nothing needs to be shared with anyone. Then I'll be in charge of my data, and my storage costs will be cheap! 

It was another fabric sorting session last night. I need some batiks, so I sorted through my batiks to see what I had. It's part of the road trip today. Thanks to a friend who gave me small swatches of the fabrics needed for a certain quilt. They were VERY helpful!! 

Sorting batiks

While searching through the basket of red fabric the other day, I spotted this rather large piece of fabric. That would make a great backing, so I measured it, labeled it, and put it on the shelf. 

One more backing

A customer's quilt got quilted—it was a big one, but it went very smoothly. You can't see the whole quilt because there isn't room in front due to all the project boxes on the floor. 

Customer quilt - DONE

And I think I now have the magnet situation under control for one side of the backing. It freaks me out to think it's just some magnets (albeit strong ones) holding the tension on that quilt. But no fabric slipped through, and it was pretty quick to remove this side of the backing when I was done. 

The magnets holding the quilt backing in place

I must work on the leader for the other side of the backing. But that's a project for another day. I have a couple of customer quilts to finish, and I still have FOUR of those community project quilts I want done! ASAP!!!! But I have to make backings for them, and since I'm using scraps, it takes time! 

I went to the gym yesterday, and as I was walking down the stairs, I spotted a beautiful rainbow in the sky. Why a rainbow since we hadn't had any rain! I went to my locker to get my phone, and by the time I got back, it was fading. But it was a full, bright rainbow. 

The rainbow

I had to zip into the rock climbing area to get that picture. I've never done rock climbing, and I don't think it interests me. I don't have the upper body strength required. 

Rock climbing at the gym

But that brings me to something else. While I was doing my stretching on the floor, I saw a woman - maybe younger than me, but not super young who was doing push-ups. The full-blown ones from her toes. Hmmm --- that looks hard. So after she left, I tried to do them, but only from my knees.OKK -- that wasn't half bad! I think we are aiming for a 90-degree bend in the elbow, and I was able to do a few more than 10 with not quite a 90-degree bend. 

Last night, I tried from the toes, and while I can do 10, I don't dip too low. But I can add that to my repertoire and see what happens. It's a good measure of increasing strength. By the way - a woman in my age category should be able to do 10 push-ups in one set, and I'm assuming those are from the toes. 

The other thing I've been working on is the ability to get up and down gracefully, or somewhat gracefully, from the floor. I do pretty well, but I was curious what the difference is between me and someone else. So I watched and AHA—it's the added use of the arms. I can get up very well, but I use my arms to assist. Younger people do it with just their legs. I am determined to turn back time - I already have by going to the gym. 

I have to tell you the story of the car and air pressure issues. We have the sensors in our tires (both winter and summer) that indicate when the air pressure is low. I don't know how much the pressure has to drop before the sensor triggers. Like most passenger cars, our tires need 32 PSI per tire. The driver's-side front tire started acting up about 6 weeks ago. 

Now we all know that sometimes on a cool morning, the pressure is lower than later in the day, and so I waited a few days OKK - weeks) to see if that made a change. It did not, so I went to the gas station and put air in the tire. It costs $2.50 to get air these days! 

The sensor stopped registering a problem for a few days, but then it came back. So I waited a week and booked an appointment to get the tire checked. Then I filled the tire with air again. 

This time the silly sensor did not come on, but I went to the appointment anyway. I explained the situation to the service intake person. He asked me where I put air in my tires. Hmmm --- isn't there only one place? The gas station - I certainly wasn't going to use my bicycle pump! Aha, he said - you can't trust the gauges at the gas station. 

DUH -- I know! I have my own gauge, and I check the tires from time to time. 

My tire pressure gauge

That still didn't faze him. He told me about the cool mornings. Yep -- I know about that too. The damn sensor was on, and I was pretty sure we had a leaking tire, but they temporarily fixed it the last time when I had the tires swapped in the spring. 

I totally get his point of view, since I bet MANY people don't have a tire pressure gauge in their car, and if they do, they have no clue how to use it. Mine is older, but it seems to work just fine. 

Anyway, he saved me some money. But dang it all - I had bought a fancy tea, and I had my computer with me, and I was going to clean up files while I waited! Alas - it wasn't to be. So now I'm going to watch the tire pressure and see what happens. Sigh.....................

And he didn't log that I was in the shop because I got a call later in the day asking if I made it in. No invoice, no appointment! I explained what happened. 

Here are my words of wisdom for the day. 

We had this discussion at lunch the other day, too. If you are in an evacuation alert, what do you pack? It's a very hard question to answer! 

I must run, as I have to pick up my passenger at a specific time, and I don't want to be late. 

It's going to be a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!

It's all about the puzzles!!!!

 OH—rushed for time this morning—I'll read the comments later, but I see comments about the wedding, which is quickly approaching! 

Well, Brooke has a conflict this morning, so I read the comments. I LOVE the idea of the movie wedding! How cool is that! And since I'm not off to the gym this morning, I managed to get quite a bit of work done on the presentation for Saturday. 

I think I have walked into a giant rabbit hole. Funny how that happens with anything I do! So, you all know I love doing jigsaw puzzles. I always have, but never took much time throughout the year to work on them because of sewing deadlines. Well, now I have time to work on them a bit more, and I try to keep it to the evenings since I still have sewing stuff to do. 

I hope this link will still work for you (I think it was a reel, so it may be gone), but someone sent me this link about my favorite jigsaw puzzle store in Georgetown - Puzzles Canada. Turns out there are puzzle competitions in Canada, including one sponsored by Puzzles Canada. It happens to be next weekend, but I won't be around. I don't even know if they are open for spectators. That led to finding the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association on Facebook, which I became a member of. 

Update: I sent an email asking if spectators can attend, and I got a response almost immediately. YES --- spectators are encouraged, and of course, Puzzles Canada will be there, and of course, they will have puzzles for sale! I can go to the Sunday afternoon events on my way home. Hmmmm --- I think I might put that on my agenda - what do I have to lose? It will be loads of fun and informative! It's noted on my agenda! 

Let's just say that I'm getting a ton of Facebook posts about puzzles! Oh my!!! A new (to me) company that has some amazing puzzles is Villager.  Oh my --- I spotted one for Salt Spring Island. As so it goes!!!! Here is the link to their new puzzles. This is a Canadian company, and all the artists are women! 

I do not need to buy any new or used puzzles at the moment, but oh my --- the possibilities are endless. I guess I know what I'll be doing to take a break from sewing, as I can't see myself sewing all day, every day. Making a puzzle doesn't take up much room  - a 2-foot by 3-foot space is more than enough, and put the pieces on some make-shift boards made with felt and foam core, and you are set! 

And I spotted a virtual event that was based in Canada! It happened on May 9th. Who knew that all this stuff was happening? I've been so focused on quilting!!!! WAIT --- I also see there is another virtual event coming up. Hmmm! I might buy the puzzle they just worked on and do a practice run to see if I can actually work under pressure. And do I want to work under that kind of pressure? It would be fun to try once. 

Speaking of puzzles, here is the status of the one I'm working on. I have certainly gotten my money's worth from this one. This was after about two hours last night.  

Progress is being made on my existing puzzle

The holes are filling in, but the border is still not connected in some spots. I should be able to finish it by the time I leave for the retreat. OK -- that's doable! 

I spotted this photo on Facebook, and well, we need one of these in our neighborhood. What a great idea! 

Jigsaw Puzzle exchange library

Before I go, here's an interesting thought about puzzles versus quilting. You get loads of entertainment, it's probably no more expensive than quilting - actually, probably cheaper since it doesn't require any special tools. And once you are done, you can swap the puzzle or give it away. You don't have to worry about any UFOs. Hmmmmmmm 

OK - enough about the puzzles, let's get on with sewing. I think I mentioned that I finished all the applique for Color My World, but since the sewing machine was set up for applique - such a tough job to set it up - NOT!!! I continued with applique and completed all the stitching on this wall hanging. 

The hexagons are all stitched down

The fabric hexagons and one cardboard template were cut on a digital cutter (Momento) in mere minutes. I love that I can take an entire fat quarter and cut it with the Momento! The hexagons have been fused to the background for a couple of months. The edges are turned under, so I needed to do machine invisible applique as I did for the house blocks. 

That is done, and I still have more invisible appliqué to do later today, but first I have some piecing to do. No—wait—I think I have to do the appliqué before I do the piecing. Anyway, I have no choice now but to work on the homework - I've delayed it as much as I can. I got some of the presentation work done for the weekend, but I'm a wee bit behind. 

I got one more customer quilt done. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I have to call it quits on the long arm for the time being, until I finish preparing for the weekend classes. Although the machine works on its own, it's still very time-consuming and requires focus. So I don't get a ton of work done. Today is the day for focus!!!

I scanned one picture from Katimavik and sent it as a sample to Radar's brother. The old printer still works very well as a scanner, and I hope to use it to print something today, as I don't have time to set up the new one. Here's the new one - a white printer! 

Update --- No go on printing with the old printer. After leaving the cartridges out, they have dried up. So I have opened the box on the new one, and it's sitting on the kitchen counter. I need to print a few pages, and then I'll find a home for it tomorrow. 

The new printer

As I was looking through my Katimavik photo album, I spotted a group photo of all of us in the military option. They did not have that option very long. I'm not sure if it lasted only one year. But I counted, and there were close to 50 people in our group. I think the full program only ran once. They offered shorter programs in other years. 

The Katimavik military option group

It was an exciting and life-changing experience, and even though it was tough, it was NOT as tough as the boot camp the regular force goes through. But it was tough. I found lots of pictures of the girls in the hallway in their underwear. Why I took those pictures is beyond me, but it's a good memory. But why in our underwear? Because our uniforms were pressed and cleaned, no one wanted to get them dirty or wrinkled before inspection. Our barracks had to be clean as well. So we did that cleaning in our underwear, then got dressed! Perhaps that is why I'm not good with rules and authority! 

That group then got split into three groups - one for communications, one for infantry, and I can't remember what the third group was. Or maybe there were only two groups. It was interesting because most of the communications group were females, while the infantry were males, and we ended up at the same base (Valcartier, Quebec) for the final three months of the program. More than one couple resulted from that program. 

Hmmm—be careful what you wish for! The weather has been cool, with lots of rain and no sun. Or that's how it seemed. Then we had three HOT days with humidity. A cold front moved in, and it's back to freezing again. It's currently 7 degrees C. That's a 30-degree difference from the "feels like" 36 we had just a short time ago. 

This is the alarm pad in the house, and I don't know where it gets its data from, but I think it's a bit off! Even though it's cold, it's not this cold!

Hmmm-- where is this data coming from?

So that was a weird way to write the blog, but it got done. I have a very busy day at the sewing machine. But the first thing is to get that new printer fired up because I need a pattern! Then I'm off to work. I still have a couple of videos to finish reviewing for the weekend and quite a bit of sewing. I've been working on stuff, but not the right stuff! Typical me! 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!

One step forward and another item added to the to-do list!

Should I say "be careful what you wish for?" We went from winter to high summer overnight! Yesterday was a blistering hot day with lots of sun! What a change, and I think we have heat today and tomorrow, and then back to mid-teens! That's OK -- it's nice to walk around in shorts and sweat!

It was an interesting day, and for some reason, I decided it was important to spend time gardening, which was NOT on my to-do list. But that's OK. It's stuff that needed to be done. 

First, let me give you an update on the HST situation at my house.

I managed to finish all the HSTs for my two winter quilts. And I kept trimming one of the other groups of the enders and leaders. When I was finished with the HSTs for the quilts, this is what remained of the scrap group. 

Hmmm - almost finished the scrap group of HSTs

I continued on until this small group was done. And NO - it did not work out evenly in groups of four, there was one extra. But no worries, this group is trimmed, and it's already stored in the scrapbin for the HSTs of that size. 

The group of HSTs is done!

I had some time to kill this morning, so I grabbed the next grouping and started on that. 

The next group of HSTs to trim

I got a fair number done, which is great. I've never been this productive (proactive) with these HSTs before. Once this group is complete, there are a few I've recently pieced together, and there is one more group I need to dig out, which I think is in the retreat bag for next week. 

Working on the next group of HSTs

And I accomplished ONE block (of eight) for the winter quilts. It represents a poinsettia. This is what all those HSTs were for. 

One block (of eight) for the winter quilts

And as promised, here are the two quilts. I need to finish the applique on the sledding block, complete the remaining seven poinsettia blocks, and after that, there are two remaining blocks - bells and flying geese. Then I need to find some border fabric and the backing. I'm making progress! 

Progress on the two winter quilts

I've decided this will be my UFO, and I hope to continue with the two summer quilts to complete two sets of the four seasons. It would be silly to only do three. 

I pulled the fall and spring quilts from the "to be quilted" pile, and they are now in the current quilting queue. I only have two customer quilts to do, and I have a group (5) for which I need to do some serious learning on my long-arm (computer-based), so I'm able to work on a few of mine. 

Two spring and two fall quilt tops to be quilted

Speaking of customer quilts, here is the one I did yesterday. Both KU and I want to steal this one. It's a scrappy log cabin, and it's just gorgeous! I have one more for the same customer, which I'll do tomorrow. Today, it's all about another community project quilt. 

Customer quilt - DONE

It's funny how trees bloom. Why is there one patch of different colored blooms on this tree?  

A curiosity of nature

I took a look at my lilac bushes, and they are just starting to bloom. They'd better bloom before I leave next week! They are a different species from the ones I spotted the previous day. 

My lilacs are behind!

Right after lunch, I had some car errands to run, so I got and left the house with a mental list of all the stops. I had to buy dog food, and because of the other things I was buying, I had to put the bags on the front seat. And I needed to fasten the seat belt because the car thought there was someone in the front seat. 

The bags of dog food are seat-belted in!

I spotted this at the pet store. A nice shady spot for the dog. I doubt my girls would use that - there is plenty of shade in the backyard at any given time. But if you are camping, then this could be an important part of the dog's camping gear. 

Camping gear for dogs

I was at the hardware store, and I spotted these scrub sponges. I've heard of them and always wanted one. Now I have one. What will I scrub with it? No idea yet, but I'm sure something will come to mind. It's pretty coarse!

My new scrubber!

I also stopped at Best Buy because we need a new printer. The heads weren't clean when I tried to print, and, in fact, because the entire printer head mechanism had been exposed overnight, it didn't really want to print at all. I'm tired of dealing with that printer, so it's time to get a new one. As I entered the store, I spotted signs saying the systems were down. Yep—you couldn't buy anything, and you couldn't access the website! 

Well, I spotted lots of employees around, so I took advantage of the situation and grabbed the printer guy. He and I had a great chat about what I really needed for a printer. He was trying to sell me the $59 printer, but I really like the top feeder for scanning (not that I do a lot) and the enclosed paper tray. It just looks neater. So that one costs a bit more. He told me to come back on Tuesday, and he would give me a deal since I was unable to buy yesterday. 

Then I was off to my last stop—the hardware store, where I bought 10 bags of mulch for the backyard. I had done some weeding in the morning, and while the mulch doesn't completely stop the weeds, it does help, and it tidies up the yard. We have no grass, so the mulch is important. I have yet to mulch the entire backyard in one season, and some areas need it more than others. 

I bought the bags and had someone load them in the car for me. 

Here's a tip: when you are at the hardware store and need to buy bags of dirt, mulch, or whatever. Take a picture of the SKU and then pay for the quantity at the cash register. Take the receipt outside, drive your car up to the appropriate stack, and load the number of bags into the car. 

As I was there for my second load, a couple were loading heavy bags of soil into a shopping cart. I don't think they looked too pleased when they saw me put the bags directly into my car. It was taking them forever, and then they had to wheel it in the store and then out to their car. My way (and most people's) is a lot less work. 

When I got home, I had choices about how to get the bags into the backyard. I dug out the wheelbarrow only to find the tire was flat, and that wasn't going to work. I tried to pump up the tire, but the sidewall was shot, so that wasn't going to work either. I carried the ten bags one at a time to the backyard. 

I had to go back for more mulch, and I also bought a new tire for the wheelbarrow. The staff had to search high and low for the one tire that was spotted in inventory, and it required a big step ladder to reach it. The box looked like it had been through a war, and I wasn't sure it was the correct size, but it looked right. 

Back home after getting twenty more bags of mulch. This time, I had to load all twenty in the car myself. The guy who was supposed to help was helping others. No big deal - that was my workout of the day. 

And within a few minutes after grabbing a wrench, I had the old tire off and the new tire on. 

Changing the wheelbarrow tire

The new one was slightly larger than the original, so I had to rotate the front bar a bit to accommodate it. But now I was in business, and I could put three bags at a time into the wheelbarrow. 

The spiffy new tire!

And before I knew it, all 30 bags were now in the backyard. 

10 bags of cedar mulch

20 bags of brown mulch

Phew -- that feels good, and I need to get outside and do some more weeding with the hoe and then lay down the mulch. I think it's also time to clean out the shed again. Most of the junk is gone, but it's funny how stuff accumulates. 

Then, since I was all sweating and feeling strong, I decided to bring one of the tabletops from the garage into the house. OH!!! That is a solid piece of wood measuring 30" by 60", and it is HEAVY!!! I managed to get it into the house and to the top of the stairs. 

Then there was the task of sliding it down the stairs while still in its box. Hmmm -- I should have removed the pictures from the wall because everything was going great until one fell off. 

Ooops --- one picture is gone!

The fall broke the frame, but not the glass. Well, I suspect, it's not real glass. Yep -- one step forward, which created a new item to add to the to-do list! I had to glue part of it together last night, and I'll try to rescue the frame later today. I think it's very repairable. Sounds like my clean the oven story!

The broken frame

The table top is downstairs, but I was a bit tired at this point, so I left it and hope to work on it later today. 

The solid-wood tabletop is downstairs!

All that hard work deserved a reward. 

My reward for all the hard labor

Then it was back in the house to get some quilting done, which you already saw. 

There isn't a day that goes by that Murphy doesn't entertain us in some way. She has created her own mud pit by the pond. There is some water overflow in this mostly shaded area, and she thinks it is her area. I bought a bag of dirt to place there, and then I'll top it with mulch. She is ripping up the lillies, so I have to replant some of them today. But that girl loves the mud! 

MOM - I claim this space as MINE! 

But she also likes to sit up near the fence in the shade! 

And this area is mine as well!

When I went to the pet store, I bought them some treats. Lexi gets soft bones as she won't chew on anything. While Murphy gets a chew bone. She was NOT happy to chew that thing yesterday and managed to dig several holes in the backyard while she tried to find a spot for it. Sigh.......

MOM - I'm saving this for another day!

And where is Lexi in all this? She is happy to just hang out under the table, hoping for a scrap of food. Let's say that the other side of the family has created dogs that beg! And it drives me mad! 

MOM - I'm not begging! I'm just cute!

What's the fish situation? Well, I keep digging at the debris at the bottom of the pond, and I'm dying to get that rock off the bottom -- you can see it on the right. PLUS, there are two huge roots from the lilies that are just hanging in the water, and I want them gone. How to get them? Either I lie on my tummy and reach in, or I step in to do the job. Hmmm -- both ways are going to be icky. I must just pick one and get it done! 

By the way, I'm using the fish net to grab the debris from the bottom of the pond. 

However, I have now spotted six of the seven fish. The last one is still very shy, and perhaps we have seen it, but only seen six together. They seem to be doing very well and were happy to enjoy the sun. They don't scatter when they see a shadow quite as quickly as they did on the first day they arrived. 

Six of seven fish

As for the puzzle? Oh my gosh -- this is the hardest one I've done to date. 

A tough jigsaw puzzle

I have bits and pieces of birds, butterflies, and dragonflies all over the place. You would think it would be easy, but it's quite the challenge, and the border is still not done! 

I must say, I felt very strong all day, and my legs were very happy, which made me happy. But I had a rather sad conversation with my Mom, whose days living independently are sadly going to end, and soon, if we don't get some additional help. I hope to look into it tomorrow. But let her story be a lesson to you all. If you do NOT use your body, you will lose your strength (both upper and lower), and then you will be at the mercy of someone in a nursing home to get you to the washroom on time. OK—you will be wearing a diaper. 

Stay active, and I'm not talking running a marathon. I'm talking about buying a few small weights, sitting in your chair, and while you watch TV, lift those damn weights. I don't care how much it hurts! Lift them EVERY DAY!!! And make sure you walk, or do those stand-up/sit-down exercises. You do NOT want to be my Mom. 

I have learned so much from her, and it's mostly what NOT to do in life. Even though there are days when my legs feel like lead, I get out and walk because I refuse to let old age and frailty rob me of my freedom! I can walk slowly, but I can still walk! And it's not all that bad as I make it sound! There are just some good and bad days. I strongly believe that all my issues are caused by two things - sciatic nerve damage and damaged tendons! 

And on that happy note, I'm out of here to walk the girls! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

SCAM!!!

Something very bizarre happened yesterday, and it sure gave me pause for thought. We only have one home phone, which sits in the living room. We do hear it ring, but never answer it. There is an answering machine attached to it, and I check it from time to time. It's mostly junk if there are any messages at all. I heard the phone ring and the announcement that it was Bell calling. I had heard this the day before, so I was wondering if they were trying to contact me. 

I thought I had better try to catch it in case there was something important. However, as I was walking away with the phone in my hand because I needed to make a call, it rang. I looked at the number and OH MY --- it's my parents. It has to be monumental news for them to call. They never call. 

It was my Mom, and the first thing she asked was, "Did M just call you?" Well, I had just heard the phone ring, although it wasn't my cell phone, and I doubt that M even remembers that we still have a home phone. Apparently, Mom got a call from a weeping granddaughter, saying she was in an accident, was now in jail, and needed bail money. It does make you think, but seriously ---- if you were in an accident, it would have to be very bad and your fault to end up in jail, not in the hospital! Plus, if it were that bad, wouldn't you need a lawyer? The whole story is just so bogus!

I assured Mom that it was likely a scam. Instead of just hanging up, though, she said, "Why don't you call your mom?" And then the girl hung up on her. So no money parted hands - my Mom wouldn't have the first clue how to access their money anyway! But the sad thing is that someone might fall for it and pay. You just wonder how the victim would transition from sobbing to helping the grandparent send them money. 

Thankfully, we have drilled into their heads not to deal with those calls, but why did she even answer the phone? We have tried to tell them that if there is NO name, it's a crank call. And there are times when they still want to know who it was and try to use a reverse phone number lookup. They do NOT get the concept of robocalls and scams using numbers that look like they came from their area. Sigh..........

However, during the same call, she confessed that Dad drove himself to the hospital because he wasn't feeling well, and she might have thought it was the hospital calling. Dad was admitted, but no news. I'll try to call the hospital today, although I don't know if they will give me information over the phone. 

I got in touch with M, and all is definitely OK. We had a chuckle about it, but a sad one, because someone might have been scammed yesterday. 

Remember what I said yesterday about it being an appliqué day. Well, that was a lie. It's funny how we have such amazing plans for our day, and then we don't get that done! It was still a very good day, but just not in the appliqué department. 

I did get the second block fused in place, but did not get to any stitching. 

The blocks are ready to be stitched.

I even had a helper watching from outside. What I love about her is her intent. She was outside, couldn't see me as she was watching the gate, but when I called her name, she glanced down to see what the heck I wanted!!!

MOM - Is everything OK?

The next customer quilt got loaded and quilted. Everything that is quilted is trimmed and ready to go out the door. 

Customer quilt - done

But of course, I have to wait until all 11 of those community project quilts are done before they go. The backing and the batting are ready to be loaded this afternoon. 

The backing for community project number three is ready.

As you know, if you've been around for a while, there is a huge amount of community project quilts to be quilted. And I need to get myself organized to start quilting those quilts. Well, I am, but very slowly, and when I downsize, the long arm will likely NOT be coming with me. But that is way in the future. The quilting of these quilts takes no time at all - it's the prep work. I must find a backing that fits, and that usually means making it. Then I need to piece the batting because I'm using the cutoffs from customer quilts to make those battings. That is what takes the time! 

But I'll get to it, and that is what I should be doing during some of this downtime. 

The puzzle and the table assembly sat untouched. As the day was winding down, I decided to tackle the HSTs again. And yes—I tackle them in small groups. I press four at a time, and then I trim four. And since I really didn't want to do anything else, I dealt with multiple groups of four, and before I knew it, I had this many trimmed. I typically do those little groups of four between pressing other seams or other small tasks. 

Lots of trimming happened.

And now I can say for this group of HSTs that the trimmed pile is much larger than the untrimmed pile. I may even try to finish that today. There are still three other groups to tackle, but I'm getting there, and that is all that counts. The same will happen for those quilts. Just keep whittling away at it, and it will happen. 

The trimmed pile is larger than the untrimmed pile.

I have to share this story about doing things four at a time. I'm not sure where that number came from, but when I was a kid, we often had canned Saskatoon berries for dessert. I would scoop the berries into my dish and then eat them FOUR at a time. I still do to this day if I have any. I have no idea why I developed that habit or where the number four came from. It was always a bonus day when it worked out perfectly, which was very rare! 

So Quilt Canada is next month! It's hard to believe that it's been one year already. The latest issue of Canadian Quilter arrived in the mail. 

The latest issue of Canadian Quilter

Last year, it was very exciting to see so many people attend the event, but it was also very disheartening to hear so many negative things because of the crowds! I wrote about it on my blog, and I was then asked whether CQA could publish the information in their newsletter; I said yes. It is mostly about avoiding the crowds because, believe it or not, it is possible, but you have to help yourself! Don't just show up and expect the aisles to be empty, just for your enjoyment. 

So if you are attending this or any other large show, please read it. If you don't get the newsletter, then you can check it out on my blog. I get it, it's frustrating to you when the crowds are so large. But there are things you can do to make attending the show easier. So whatever your situation, please read that article BEFORE you attend your next large quilt show. 

My article about attending large quilt shows

There is so much to see and do on the internet these days -- there just isn't time for it all. As is typical at my house, there are MANY windows open on my computer, each with the intent of ordering, watching, or reading something. Yikes!!!! But here is something I discovered, and I think it's very good for anyone going through a studio/sewing space organization. It's from Jen at Grainline Studio, and her videos are very good. 

She has broken down the process into chunks, with the first day focused on Understanding How You Sew. Here's the link to the blog post, or you can watch the video on YouTube. I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but I suspect it is the same information except in video form. You can pick one or the other, or do both. I really like Jen - her patterns (clothing) are very good, her videos on the Tamarack Jacket (applicable to any quilted jacket) are amazing. The editing is great, and she's just a lovely person. 

As I go through the videos (I think she is on number 9), I'll share the links with you as well. 

And on that note, I'd better get ready for my workout with Brooke. The knee was pretty decent yesterday, but frustrating. Slow and steady is all I can say, and I don't do well with that style! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!