Do It NOW!!!

 And just like that -- it's a new week. So many ideas and so little time, but the important thing is just to do! 

Speaking of batting bits, it's amazing how many quilts you can quilt with those bits! I've pulled a few pieces from that stack I brought downstairs, and it doesn't seem to have made a dent. I calculate there is enough batting here for about 20 quilts! That should cover the remainder of my dog quilts, and the ten for the favour, and a couple more! This is the last favor job I do! This batting will NOT go back to the closet. 

There is a lot of batting bits

But here's another reason I prefer not to have someone else do the community project quilts for me. Sometimes, there just isn't quite enough batting, and a quick repair is required. Can you imagine having to pay 100% attention to that for someone else? It's not going to happen. And can you imagine what they would think of me? I would not be happy if this were someone else's quilt! 

A quick repair job

In this instance, I was a wee bit short on only one section, but it was easy for me to fix and continue. 

And just like that, another dog quilt is done. 

Dog quilt - Number four

The backing for the fifth one is complete, but not before I had to get somewhat creative with the pieces I had set aside. 

The backing for number five

The batting is made for that one as well, and I'll quilt it today. I need to get these done. But I have to chuckle when I finished piecing this backing. You see, I had set aside pieces from my basket of dog fabric to make a backing for each of them. This is all the brown I had left. Three small pieces -- that was a pretty good calculation! And of course, that's all the blackish fabric I have, but I have one quilt to trim, so there might be a bit more to add; however, it certainly won't be enough for binding. That will have to be Plan B - hit the stash. I had never really thought of the binding when I set aside the fabric for the backings.

The leftovers from my backing calculations

The fourth quilt is trimmed, and I have the components set aside to work on for the sixth one. Can I complete them, minus binding, by Friday? That is the goal! Then I need to work on some customer quilts, and I can bind these while the customer ones are on the long arm. 

The backing for the remaining three should not require as much work, so that's good. I want to get back to the items in the blue box. But can you imagine if I had started to refill that box? I haven't even emptied it yet! Slow and steady! And I knew that these quilts would take precedence over the items in the blue box. 

While piecing the backs, I'm whittling away at the tray of bits to make half-square triangles. I have a bunch to press and trim today. It's always a good idea to have something to use as enders and leaders. These are the cutoffs, resulting from making bindings or borders. And it seems the tray will never be empty! I believe there is a basket, or perhaps two, upstairs in Studio U. However, there is no need to dig into those when I still have these bits to sew. 

The tray of bits for half-square triangles

I pulled out another EXIT Game for some entertainment last night. It is a three-star puzzle, so will it be too much of a challenge for us? 

The latest EXIT Game

I quickly found the answer to the first puzzle, and we decided to forge ahead with the second one. I found something unique, and then DH ran with it and we quickly got the answer to that one as well. Two down and eight to go. That was it for my brain for the evening. 

Walking Bear is a challenge! He is so slow, and he has a lot of pee-mail to catch up on! But all three got walked, but not before this spider gave me a fright! Good grief! 

EKE!!!!! A giant spider on the lawn

But the three amigos are together and happy! One of them found something to sniff in the backyard, and of course, the other two had to check it out as well!

WAIT -- let me get in there! 

It is almost impossible to get all three of them posed for a picture. This is the best I've ever gotten. Murphy was not impressed. For that matter, neither was Lexi! But they are all together! It reminds me of family photos -- no one wants them, so they all have grumpy faces!

We are busy dogs - no time for photos!

The little guy is finally settling down. He didn't want to eat or drink all day and was quite happy in his favorite spot - in the sun in Murphy's bed, watching life happen on our street. He's a bit harder to spot from outside because of the tree in the front of the house, but he makes himself known!

Grandma, please-- I'm busy!

However, I suspect he has an ear infection, which is probably the cause of his not eating, so I need to take him to the vet today. As if I don't have enough money-pit animals in our house! He's better today, but his ear still smells, and he really needs a bath. I almost swear his mom is neglecting him. Isn't that a reason for him to be dognapped? 

Grandma - I need a haircut

Oh well. We do what must be done. 

We had a couple of great show-and-tell sessions yesterday. It's always a delight to see what others are working on, how far they have advanced in their projects, or how much they are learning by using their embroidery machines and software. If only we had an unlimited amount of time!

Speaking of which, here's a story to scare you with. I recently heard of a woman who is a quilter and a teacher. She is a widow and has recently fallen ill. From the gist of the conversation, I suspect she has a limited time and has engaged the help of a friend to help her with the UFOs. 

There is a sense of urgency involved because of the diagnosis (I don't know the details, and I don't want to know). However, it should NOT be a health scare that inspires you to get your UFOs done. 

No, I find that situation a bit selfish (the person they have engaged to help them has her own family and UFOs to work on). This is why you need to work on those UFOs NOW. I've done my share of helping others in the past - cleaning out a sewing room, finishing UFOs, and so on. I am DONE - I will not do it again! Not unless I know you made a valiant effort before you get sick! I will help, but I won't do it alone. 

You need to review your projects and make some decisions - it's called prioritizing what you absolutely want to accomplish. Then you need to stop starting something new (from a class or your kits) and focus on what is a priority. And then do it for the WIN!

Yes - PRIORITIZE - FOCUS - WIN.

Do not expect to drag a friend into the mix when your time is near. That is selfish and totally irresponsible. Do it now! You no longer want something - sell it or give it away now! Clean up the horrible little bits - whatever is necessary, but get it under control NOW! 

This is what I'm doing - it has taken me a long time to come to grips with this, but I'm on a roll now. I don't care how much I get done in a day; I try to tackle some small portion of the overall picture. I do NOT want to spend my last days trying to finish UFOs. I want to spend my last days with family!

Will I ever complete all my UFOs? I'm not sure about that, but the most important thing is that I'm making progress. I've stopped starting new things  - well, there are one or two new things a year, and that's it. That's a massive start and I'm working on completing. I WILL get those current project tables clear!

It's just hard to sew and quilt at the same time! Especially when there is so much prep work for those community project quilts. I'm not complaining - just explaining! But I will do what I can! Thankfully, all of my quilts have the backing and binding done, but I still need to piece the batting. 

On that happy note, I'm out of here - I'm off to spin class. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!!

TEAM work!

For our American friends who celebrated President's Day yesterday, we got to celebrate FAMILY Day! I don't even remember when they started that day or why. Was it because we needed a stat holiday in February, and Valentine's didn't cut it? 

AH -- If you check the history, it started in the province of Alberta in 1990 to recognize the importance of the home and family of their founding pioneers, and it has been adopted by most other provinces since. We've had Family Day in Ontario since 2008. 

Oh, you will be sick of me talking about the EXIT game, but we solved the puzzle last night! It was a team effort, to be sure. I got the first part of it -- super easy. But now, what the heck do we do with this? I had a brilliant idea, and that got us one step closer. Now what? We were still perplexed. Then I discovered the next step- this is a process of talking aloud and hoping something will pop out of your head!

OK, so I got the "sentence" code, but what do I do with that? Then DH came to the rescue and solved the final part! A total team effort!!! We would NOT be able to do these on our own. I can't wait until we start the "hard" ones! 

It was a bit of a puttering day while I listened to the ladies on Monday Sewing. By the way, even with all the puttering, that section of the cutting table is CLEAR!!!

Messing with quilt backs while on Monday's Zoom call

I had been determining what backing I would use for that large play-panel quilt. Now that it has a home, I wanted something somewhat nice and consistent on the back. Thanks to the group, I found what I was looking for online, and it was ordered. I have two panels left over, and they found a home yesterday, along with the fabric I was going to use for the backing for this one. I didn't have enough, so that was the problem.  

I would NOT have been able to do that on my own. It's TEAM work. So that was a very exciting moment when I got that problem solved. 

I was also looking for a backing for that bicycle quilt, and I dug through my two (shhhhhh!!!) baskets of bicycle fabric as I knew I had a couple of large pieces. I found this in flannel. Hmm -- that's pretty bright and doesn't really go with the front other than it has bicycles on it. So I returned to the two baskets, and YES -- I found another piece of flannel bicycle fabric that was more suitable.  

Flannel fabric for a quilt back

I didn't take a picture of that. Because it's flannel and the top is cotton, I washed it and just heard the dryer shut off! Done!! I may have to do some fancy piecing to make it fit, but at least it's not directional like the orange one is. 

Since I was on a roll, I searched for another UFO I'd tried to find. I was pretty sure I knew where it was, but I hadn't located it the last time I looked. This time, I looked HARD, and guess what? I found it!!

Another UFO surfaced

This also has a home now, so it's time to work on it. Those are HAND-EMBROIDERED (by me) blocks that I did YEARS ago. 

Then, it was time to trim some HSTs. I don't know why that came up, but it seemed the right thing to do. And they have to be trimmed at some point. 

One basket of HSTs to trim

I need an electrical outlet at my cutting table. I had to cut on this table,, which is way too short for me, but it was OK for just the few I trimmed at that point. I lost power to my laptop with no warning. I saw a message: "battery is low," and poof - it shut down! 

Trimming HSTs

But even after the call waoverne and I had a few minutes, I continued to press the little things. 

Pressing HSTs

And during the day, I managed to get quite a few done. This is only part of what I accomplished. 

My trimmed HSTs

In the future, my goal is to trim as I sew, and that's what I've been doing with the Barn Star Sampler HST leftovers. So, no more accumulation. That seems to be a significant problem for quilters. We prepare things for a rainy day, and that rainy day never comes, and then we end up with a HUGE mess!!!

In my sorting, I unearthed this little bag. It's a fishing tackle bag, perfect for hand work. Since I'm not doing much of that these days, I decided to empty the bag. 

Time to empty this bag of handwork supplies

I found needles, buttons, a seam ripper, floss, and an OLD $20 bill!!

OH -- a found treasure!

I'll hang onto the bag as it's an excellent little travel case and quite sturdy!!

Then, this was also sitting on my cutting table. 

My Laurel Birch hand bag

I have used this bag for many years,, and it's starting to look sad. It's been put away somewhere and I dug it out the other day. 

The corners are worn out

DO NOT yell at me, but I hate to throw it away!!! I've considered taking it apart and rescuing the front, even though it's faded. But then what would I do with it? So help me, but I'm a hoarder for this kind of thing. Partially worn out, but I hate to throw it away. If I throw it out, I WILL keep the wooden dog tag. 

Speaking of dogs, look at Lexi! She is shedding hair like it's the middle of July! I brushed her daily for a while, and she looked pretty spiffy. Now? She looks like a molting chicken! I must get back to the daily brushing, but I hate doing it in the house, and it's cold outside! 

MOM - I need some grooming!

OH -- speaking of outside, have a look at this! Can you figure out which footprint is mine? 

Who owns that giant footprint

Yep -- that would be mine on the right! Those HOKAs are WIDE. Well, the sole is wide, but the actual space inside isn't quite that wide. But these shoes are perfect for people with feet issues like mine (and mine are mild). I've almost lost the little mohawk calus on my right baby toe. Yes -- they look like boats on my feet, but if they do the job, I couldn't care less!!

Even with all the puttering in Studio B, I managed to finish my tasks for the day - well, almost. I set up my equipment for my Facebook Live tomorrow, and I HAVE A PROBLEM. So, I need to resolve that today. One piece (the MAIN) piece isn't recognized by my computer. Sigh!!! But the rest of it is fine - I have all the cables and whatnot, so I should be ready once I get the computer to recognize the switch box. 

There are so many cables on that table - there's barely room to put a sample! 

While I could say there is a lot of the schedule today, there is only ONE critical thing, and that's to solve that technical issue. If that gets solved early, then I have a "free" day!

On that note, I'd better get moving as I have the girls and a boy to walk this morning. OH -- I should mention that all the snow we had received in the last couple of days - just a couple of snow squalls, really - it's all gone! The sidewalks are BARE, which I love for walking. It is not so good for moisture in the ground, but it is great for walking!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

On reading a book

Shoot -- I was going to tell you the disturbing story about quilt history, and I know I won't have time before I have to leave for spin class. I started it, but I'll have to finish it another day. 

I have no idea what is happening these days. I spend time in Studio B, but I don't seem to have much to show for it. Why is that? 

Part of the reason is I was doing paperwork in the morning, and I only completed some of what I wanted to do as I was late to start. I had to shovel the driveway and was late getting out to walk the girls and a boy, so I was an hour late. But some e-mails got sent, the last lists were recreated, and I should finish it all this morning. 

Speaking of shoveling the driveway, yes -- we got snow. January 7th, our first "significant" snow of the year. That is in quotation marks because while the ground is covered, there isn't much. It didn't take long to shovel the driveway, and by the end of the day, everything was nice and dry. 

EXCEPT for a few neighbors on my street who refuse to shovel their driveways. I think I will start taking note of the house numbers and reporting them. Seriously? This gets dangerous when it turns to ice, and someone is going to fall and hurt themselves. It drives me crazy --- it's a bit of snow --- it wasn't even heavy! Get your butt out there with a shovel and shovel! 

Little Bear thoroughly enjoyed his walk in the snow. I thought he would get cold and hold up his paws, but he ran through the snow like a trooper and was quite happy! I could barely keep up with him. 

Keep up with me!!!!

Then he and Murphy spent time guarding the neighborhood in their front window perch. I can just see people laughing when they walk by and see them. 

The guard dogs

And as I was reading last night, I had company. He is so darn cute, but even though I like him fluffy, I think he will need grooming soon!

Hey there!!!

Here are three more quilt tops that I picked up from Diane. The other bags are still in the middle of the floor, and I must get them unpacked and put the quilt tops away. 

Three more quilts for community projects

And there's one more quilt back as well. 

One more quilt backing

I think I need to get this paperwork off my plate so my mind can be clear to focus on other stuff. There's an entire basket of paperwork sitting on the floor that I need to deal with. Sigh.............. That paperwork is stifling my sewing time! Let's make ONE MORE PUSH today to clear it, and then things will be better!

I have some classes to prep for the weekend, and I'd better get myself organized to do that. One of them is an in-person class at The Hobby Horse - machine quilting, so that will take a little bit of different prep. 

I managed to get my log cabin blocks completed. 

My quilt blocks

I know -- they have a few extra bits than a normal log cabin - that's the way they are supposed to be. Now I have to sew them together, and that's the last you'll see of these blocks until they are sewn into the quilt. 

It's interesting about reading a book. Some people are voracious readers, and others wouldn't dream of reading. When I was a kid, I was a voracious reader and didn't live near a library, so that was a challenge. I grew up with a  love of reading, but I don't think I read many books when I was a young adult. I was working out of the house full-time, going to the gym, and gosh knows what else I did since I wasn't a quilter then. 

I used to read a lot of magazines, I guess. And I did a lot of puzzles. 

Years ago, DH asked me why I didn't read more books, and well, that got me back into reading books, but I tell you, it took a while. After reading short articles in magazines, reading and following a plot took me some time. My brain wasn't trained to read something long. 

Yes --- we need to train our brains to retain all that information, follow plot lines, character development and all that other fun stuff. The short stuff you find in an article - let's face it --- magazine articles are FLUFF. There's usually nothing solid in them, and they take just a few minutes to read (for most of the stuff). 

Our minds today are in even worse shape as we go for instant gratification. A 30-second video clip on social media. Scrolling through a few pictures and read hashtags. Your brain becomes wired to deal with those very short stories, and it's hard to focus on anything that takes time, like reading a book!

I'm sure someone has done a study on this, but I think I can safely say that the attention span of many people today is short. That brings about a level of impatience and frustration that is a challenge for people to cope with. 

I LOVE to read, and I'm good with any media format - ebooks, audiobooks, or a physical book. I love reading fiction and nonfiction, and I'm trying to expand the genres that I read. I only used to read horror and murder mysteries. Why? I've no idea. The idea of reading a narrative was boring. But I branched out, and now, I don't read horror any longer, but I still read murder mysteries - well, the who dunit books. But I also enjoy fiction, historical fiction, thrillers, narrative, and probably a few more. 

I think it's a great idea to expand that reading range as it makes your brain think a bit differently when you break out of the cookie-cutter mold that is murder or thriller. 

Reading requires patience and, sometimes, lots of it! I'm good with that. I enjoy sitting down for an hour or two or grabbing five minutes and reading. It's like entering another world, and I wouldn't trade the ability to read for the world. It is truly a privilege to be able to read a book -- how many people do NOT know how to read, period! 

However, there are people out there that don't like to read. GASP!! How can that be? It's such a calm, relaxing thing to do. And there are others who would believe that reading is a "waste of time" as you have nothing to show for it when you're done. I don't buy that argument at all. Reading and doing puzzles are all cognitive things that keep our brain learning and hopefully keep all those brain cells in top working order! Yep -- even for the makers of the world -- I think reading is important. 

I read, on average, one book a week. I'd love to read more, but I don't know that I would enjoy it as much. I read because I enjoy it, I don't read or listen to books to entertain me, while I do something else. I want to savor the moment and enjoy the book and the process of reading. Sitting down, with only a book to entertain me, is -- well, that's a privilege I earned, and I have the luxury of time to do so. I'm not giving it up!

Speaking of puzzles, we attempted more of the EXIT Game last night. Yep -- "we" solved another puzzle. Since we got the first one with no problem, we moved to the second one. After several attempts, we were certain we had the correct three numbers that make up the three-digit code, but it kept coming up as being incorrect. DH was in charge of the decoder, and I asked him if he tried another combination of the three numbers. "Yes," was his response.  

When I looked at the clues (which killed me to do so), I saw that, indeed, we had the three correct digits, but they were in the wrong order. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I asked if he tried another combination. I have no idea what he was doing, but we didn't need to look at the clue. And then we had a "discussion" about the logic. He sees black and white; I see grey! GRRRRRR! I'll look at the decoder next time FIRST before we look at the clue. 

He continued on to solve the next one by himself, and I went to read my book! 

On that note, I'm out of here - off to spin class. 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!

Company!!!

The e-mail recreation continues. The only people I have yet to contact are those in the UFO groups and the Heartfelt Sampler. But if you were interested in anything else (Many Blocks, Out of the Box, Machine Embroidery, Digital Cutter), you should have received an e-mail from me. If you have NOT, send me a note, and I'll add you to the appropriate list. 

Then, once that is organized, I can delete the rest of the class e-mails for 2023. That's going to free up a whole lot of space! 

Based on some of the advice I've received, MANY people are even more clueless about e-mail than I am. So I'm going to muddle along -- I've got enough knowledge to be MORE than dangerous, and as long as it all works, I'm good! NO -- as long as I KNOW how it works, I'm good. It may not be right, but it works! 

The company has arrived! 

M and Bear at the airport

Yep -- that's M in the airport, but she safely arrived here, along with her traveling companion - Little Bear. They are here for a short time - WAIT -- she is here for a short time, Little Bear gets to stay - for MONTHS. Personally, I think he should stay forever! But seriously? Matching outfits? Oh well --- if it makes them all happy. 

Should she ever have children -- what does that mean? Mommy and Me outfits? My mother did that to me! She always made us matching dresses - I'll have to dig out one of the photos. 

Me and my Mom

It's amazing what you can find on my blog. Did you know that you can search my blog? If you go to the blog, there is a BIG LONG WHITE bar at the top. Type in a topic or a phrase, and VOILA -- you can find many things! I typed in matching dresses, and the post with this popped up! We kind of blend into the curtains behind!

And I even found one of the dresses in December! 

M had not had lunch, so we planned something that we'd been meaning to do for a long, long time. After dumping Bear at the house to play with Murphy and Lexi, we went to the mall for CREPES. 

There is a small restaurant in the space where Teavana used to be, and M used to work at Teavana. So that's where we went. This restaurant is small, and they have even expanded their seating area into the aisle of the mall. It's packed - ALWAYS. It was 2:30 when we arrived, and there were no tables available, and there were people in front of us. 

But at last, we got a table and sat down to eat. 

A late lunch

She had a savory crepe.

Savoury crepe

And I had a sweet crepe. 

The sweet crepe

It was apple pie, and it was delicious!!! I splurged and had a hot chocolate as well. 

Hot chocolate

Then we came home and chatted, and well, we couldn't help ourselves; we had to get the EXIT game out. 

The EXIT Game continues

This one has rated two stars out of five on the difficulty level, but we needed help in a couple of spots. One of them we should have gotten easily, but the other time we looked? That was a bit more complicated. I see the logic, but not sure that I would have figured it out! We don't look at the entire clue -- I only go as far as that lightbulb moment and then back to the game. We have TWO puzzles left to finish this one, and hopefully, we can complete it before she leaves bright and early on Saturday morning. 

The little guy was content as ever in his favorite spot in the front window. To facilitate things, I bought him portable stairs to help him up! I won't run after him and put him up there whenever he wants up or down. He used them several times, and I'm sure he'll be used to them by the end of the weekend. 

Our watchdog returns

He also hopped right into his bed like he had never left it! He now has one at home, just like it. It's the cutest little bed and has a built-in blanket. I had thrown it on the floor in the bedroom last night, and I saw Murphy trying to sleep in it. I think her head fit, and that was about it! 

Little Bear in his bed

But here are the two buds --- hanging out together. Hanging out is beyond Lexi: she can barely hang out with her sister, let alone Bear. But she wants to play with him! 

Two buds sharing a bed

OH, I should have posted this long ago, but look at the fun candy cane holder! It's super adorable and made on the embroidery machine. Thanks to Sharon -- I LOVE IT!!!! Can you imagine a garland or an entire Christmas tree decorated with them? How about a name tag on a gift? Hey -- if you don't have an embroidery machine, it's something to contemplate!!!! 

My candy cane holder

I got my steps in before my company came and made two trips -- one to the grocery store in one direction from my house and the second to the library in the opposite direction. I did WELL over my daily quota, but that's OK. I need to be careful because every time I go to the library, I don't come home with just the book I went to get -- NOPE -- borrowing books is FREE, and I usually come home with one or two extra. Sigh.................... But I'm trying to spend the evenings reading now, so hopefully, I can get through those books more quickly. 

I don't know what was in that crepe, but I was NOT hungry for the remainder of the day! Yikes! But I can only imagine how many calories and sugar were in it. I'm not worried but might want to lay off the sugar for a while. 

I was up bright and early this morning and tackling the homework prep for the weekend. I've finished most of the cutting and am ready to follow the silly instructions. I love the quilts from this pattern designer, but I HATE (with a passion) her instructions. And I hate everything about her instructions -- the fabric requirements, the cutting, the sewing - it's such a waste of fabric and time. So I'll do it once per her instructions and then do it my way! 

I did NOT get to tackle a kitchen drawer, but something happened with that drawer I tidied the other day. It's so empty and light that everything moves around when we pull it open (one must have access to scissors and pens when doing EXIT games). So I had to rejig things to prevent that. Since when has that happened when a drawer was too empty, and nothing stayed in place? 

I'll try to tackle two more drawers later today. My company is off to stay with a friend for the day, so I'll have the day to myself. Well, and three dogs! 

How is your decluttering coming along? I hope you are sticking with it --- it's going to be challenging at the beginning. Very tough, but once you start, it gets easier. One of the biggest things to remember is that you must try to put all the similar things together, which can make your place very messy. How do you find a place for one thing when you store that one thing in multiple places around your home? But once all the like things are together, you can evaluate how much of that one thing you have. 

Here's a silly little example - but take glue sticks. Do you store them in the office supply drawer? And the kitchen drawer? And then in your arts and crafts spot? Maybe with the kid's stuff? And perhaps there are a few extra? If you combine them -- how many glue sticks do you have? And then comes the question - how many of them are still good? And how many do you really need? Glue sticks seem to dry up very quickly and, most times, are only partially used. 

This is where you start asking questions. Do you ever use the one in the office supply drawer? Then perhaps you don't need to keep one there. Put the tool/supply ONLY where you need it, and try to have it in only one place unless you use it in multiple places. This makes total sense, but we don't follow it! 

And once you know what you have, you know whether you need to buy more! I can't believe how many duplicates of things I've purchased over the years because I didn't think I had any or felt I needed it when I already had loads at home. 

The new me knows pretty much where things are and what I need. I do NOT need to buy office supplies again -- EVER in my lifetime! 

Well, that's it for me. Have fun with the decluttering. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Demolition time

 Oh my -- we got out the hammers and crowbars yesterday, and this is what happened. 

We demolished the Exit Game Advent Calendar

The EXIT Game Advent Calendar is no more! We were searching for the answer to the final puzzle. I swear I knew where it was, which involved removing the game's " liner " from the outer box. OH -- all I saw were some tags you could cut and use for Christmas gifts. That wasn't it. 

Back to square one. That's what I love about this game- you think you're on the right track, yet you are not. So, the game fell apart once it was removed from the box. We were looking for something, but what? No clue. There were two clues to follow. DH spotted them, but what to do with them. 

He tried to reassemble the box, and I took it from him and took it apart again! Then, as I tried to reassemble the box, I heard something! WAIT -- what's this? And I found the gift! 

The "gift" from the Advent Calendar

But how did the clue relate to what I found? EVERYTHING from the box was now strewn across the table, and we were contemplating the mess; then he shouted out what the clue referred to. So yes, we got the final puzzle, even if we had to work backward to get it! 

What an absolutely fun thing to do. Again, if you are not already into puzzles, you will NOT like this. I've been doing puzzles since I was a kid. And you know you like puzzles when you take very little entertainment with you on a 30-day hike in Spain, but you have some Suduko with you! And you need to find an eraser because something wasn't working! I didn't even take a book -- I ripped out a few pages and took only those!

When M was here, she and I started a small one with only 10 puzzles, and we were halfway through, so finishing that one will be next. Then, we decide where to go from there. 

What is disturbing is that last night, a friend posted that someone purchased one of these games from my favorite online store, and it was a knockoff. The box looked the same, but the inside of each room was empty. The clue cards had a one-line sentence on them. They have complained -- so beware!!! That is NOT the version you want. That's sad. 

Well, true to my word, I looked at a drawer in the kitchen. See how neat and tidy this drawer is, and I haven't even touched it. 

An already tidy drawer

I had an organizing spree in the kitchen years ago, and we got rid of HALF of the contents of the kitchen cabinets. Yep -- stuff sat on tables in the living room for months as I sorted and cleaned. It was a HUGE job. But now, when I go through the cupboards again, it will be easy. 

Honestly, I expected to open that drawer and close it up again. But I didn't. Even though that looked neat and tidy, there was WAY TOO MUCH stuff in there and some junk. 

So I emptied everything out and wiped down the drawer. 

The drawer needs to be wiped down

Here is all the stuff that was in the drawer. Not a lot, but................

The contents of the drawer

This is what the drawer looks like now. I eliminated many of the pads of paper - how much paper does one household need? Those little notepads are the worst. They collect and multiply worse than rabbits. The elastics went into the office drawer, as did one eraser. No sense in having stuff like that in multiple places when I would go to the office drawer to find those items. I added two pens as there were no pens in the drawer. 

The after of the drawer cleaning

Now that's a clean drawer. I did not tackle another as that took me a few minutes longer than I thought it would, and I needed to get to the computer. 

Two more distribution lists have been created! So, if you are interested in the Out of the Box project OR the Digital Cutter with Applique and did NOT get an e-mail from me yesterday, let me know. 

More lists will be created today. Five lists remain to be created, and those are a manageable size. 

I completed the first two months of homework for the Heartfelt Sampler quilt. It didn't take long, but it still took time. There are three more block sets to complete, and I still need to cut those blocks out. Then I still have to prep the homework for this month! I'm still one month behind!

Homework for Heartfelt Sampler

Oh yes --- there was ONE hiccup with the Advent Calendar. There was a small disc with an emoji face that wasn't where it was supposed to be. When I demolished the box, it popped out somewhere. 

The missing emoji

I did a lot of prepping for my applique class with Thimbles and Things this weekend, and I had been looking for a set of applique tools. Could I think where they were? So I looked in the box with applique stuff - not there. I even checked one project box in the event it was there. Not there either. 

Then I looked where I should have looked in the first place - the bag with all the applique PREP tools. And there they were! To prevent the various tools from being scattered in the bag, I placed them all in the same bag, so when I opened the CLEAR plastic bag, I saw the missing tools. I guess I was thinking the packaging was larger! 

So all the sorting and decluttering is working - I need to trust the system more. Those tools were where they were supposed to be; I just needed to look more carefully!!!

While I was reading after dinner, of course, I had entertainment. In case you think Murphy is the instigator, Lexi was pretty persistent. She wanted someone to play with, and at first, Murphy wasn't taking up the offer, as she was lying quietly on the dog bed. Lexi then took her dance into DH's office, and he was busy. So she returned to Murphy, and finally, Murphy got up to play. 

I can't help laughing when I watch them. They are hilarious and look and sound like ferocious beasts ready to rip each other's throats out. 

Mom -- it's OK -- I'm letting her look like she's winning!

Well, I'm off to spin class this morning and then computer work and more prep - I need to get that applique presentation done today as I have more homework to prep on Thursday and Friday for a different class. 

I hope you have picked ONE space in your house to declutter. What is it? Was it as easy to deal with as my drawer was? Don't hate me on that one -- I've worked my butt off to get to that point! And see -- the decluttering never ends! You just start all over again, and each time, what you thought was precious the first time is no longer precious! 

On that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!