It's like being in kindergarten

A quick comment about the keyboard. I'm used to using a laptop keyboard. There's a different touch of laptop keyboard compared to a stand-alone keyboard. I DID go shopping for a new keyboard a while back. I couldn't find anything that was BETTER than what I have and it was around Christmas time so I couldn't get a salesperson to chat with. BUT, I'm going to go again today. It's not so much that it's sticky, but it just doesn't work smoothly OR it could be me. Maybe I'm trying to type too fast? Some days the keyboard is totally fine - like this morning and other days, it's bad. So maybe it's just me and I have to just suck it up and rely on Grammarly to help me fix the mistakes?

While I have a ton of stuff to do, it's nice from time to time to take a class. I RARELY take a class with someone else. I'm a bad student. But a couple of us decided that we were going to take a class and yesterday was the day. Actually the first of two days. The next class is next week. We made Sacha drive and Vivenda and I (and Sacha) chatted all the way to Orillia!!!  We were a wee bit late for the class because of traffic. Let's just say that it felt totally weird to be at that store and not staying at the retreat house which is just around the corner.

There was NO way we could start the class immediately as we were like children in a candy store. Thimbles and Things is my ALL time favorite store. Sue (the owner) keeps up-to-date with all her stock - patterns, fabrics and other goodies. It's hard to walk away from that store without buying one, or two, or perhaps even three (or more) things. Sue wasn't there as she was on her way to Spring Market. Alas - I won't be going, but that's OK. I don't need to go and I have a ton of stuff to do. Besides, Sue will bring back all the good stuff and we'll get to see it next week at our second part of the class. No worries! She will unearth all the good stuff and I didn't have to take the time out of my schedule. Love that!!!

So what class were we taking?  Collage!!!!!   Laura Heine style. If you're not familiar with Laura's work, check out her website. And Sue had brought in some NEW patterns which we couldn't possibly leave in the shop. However, we did restrain ourselves so we would have a few things to buy next time we were there. We are so BAD!!!!

I've decided to use my Kaffe Fassett fabrics which have been sitting around forever to make my collage picture. Which pattern am I working on?  Oh - you'll have to stay tuned for that.

Cutting fabrics

 Actually, when we left, we told Jen that we were going to have several prepped for the next stage by next week. AH - the dreamers we are!!!!

OH MY GOD!!!!   This morning, I had to drop my car off for service to finally get the summer tires installed. That took an hour, just to drop off the car and get a ride back. BUT the Customer Service Rep, with whom I always deal with asked me if I had lost weight!!!   YES!!!  I was quite excited about that. Actually, I was at spin class this morning and cranked out my 30 K and I feel like a million bucks this morning. So nice to put clothes on and not have my body spill out where it isn't supposed to.

Anyway, back to the post.  In keeping with my daily handwork, I dug out the next block of embroidery. This is the one that I had to wash out and remark. The blue wash away pen had virtually disappeared or was such a mess of lines that I could no longer work on it. It was partially stitched so that presented a problem. 

The next block of embroidery

This time, I used a very thin permanent marker with my new light tablet which I'll show you another day. As I sat at the table last night and listened to my audio book, it was a breeze to stitch on those very visible lines. But they are NOT visible once I've stitched on them.

Going gangbusters on the stitching

 I believe this is block number six of ten blocks. It's the last large block, but even the small ones have lots of stitching on them. But the important thing - I'm going to focus on this. EVERYDAY!!! 

There's still a lot of marking to do in the center of the block, so maybe I'll work on that. Speaking of prepping, I did get the next 7 or 8 blocks (the red) cut for the 150 Canadian Women. I'm going to try and get it all cut out in the next couple of days. So much to do, so little time.

Now, this is a snob story. M used to work at Teavana which was in the nearby shopping mall. They have since gone out of business. But before they did and before she left, I bought a couple of canisters of loose tea. Spiced Apple Cider. Since I've given up Tim's, I've been making my own tea bags with the loose tea. I'm now through the first canister and there's one remaining.

Canister of Spiced Apple Cider (loose tea)

Notice that huge sticker on the side - 75% off?  Well, have a look at the price of that canister of tea. Yes - the regular price is almost EIGHTY dollars. That's crazy!!!  But I LOVE this tea.

Crazy price for tea

It was priced at $16 per 100 GRAMS which is insane. 

I have a couple of other canisters (smaller ones) of different flavors, but what am I going to do? I love this tea.  I suggested to M that I visit David's Tea and she said: "Oh if you want a lesser quality tea!" What a tea snob!!!  I know there is a new tea store at the mall and I might just check out both places and see what I can come up with. I still have a couple of months worth of tea here and lots of green tea so I'm not going to go short anytime soon, but I don't like change!  (Well most of the time).

That means I have to put keyboard and tea on my research list and see what I come up. 

Now that I'm way behind for the day, there's a pattern that I need to write today and then I have to hit the sewing machine this afternoon.

OH - I should tell you my UPS story. So I went yesterday to take that box of quilts. I had applied for a UPS card which would give me 10% off shipping. I found that out from a DIFFERENT UPS store than the one that I go to all the time. Why wouldn't he tell me???   Probably because he wanted to "keep" that 10% in sales.  And I'm already on my second UPS store in the neighbourhood. So I told him about that because I couldn't find the darn card yesterday before I left the house.  Would he give me the 10% discount?  NOPE!!!!   I was a bit ticked off. So you can be sure that I'm going through the stack of paper where that darn number is residing and will be presenting it the next time I go there.  Serioulsy, I showed him the e-mail I had received from UPS (welcoming me to their program). Not good enough.  Thanks a lot - UPS store!    I think I'm going to start checking the weight and size of the boxes before I go to the store. Somehow I don't trust them and this guy used to charge me $5 to get a signature on the other end without asking me. Now I know to say NO SIGNATURE. I should have brought the box home and shipped it today. The discount was worth $12!!!!

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Let's get focused!!!!

Wow - it is amazing what one can get done when there are no interruptions (OK - letting the dogs in and out doesn't count - that's my exercise!), no appointments, no meals to make, no shopping to do, no errands.  Yes - I know I am lucky but it is by choice!   I am VERY selfish with my along time.

Let me start by sharing some pictures of Erin Mills Town Center.  These pictures were taken a couple of days ago!

The new entrance to the Food Court (the entrance facing Erin Mills Parkway).  I love this picture - it looks so inviting so I went in!   Even though I didn't need to go in that entrance - I wanted to go in that entrance.  I know - I am worse than a kid, but I'm OK with that. I mostly live in my own little world and I love it!

You can see into the food court area from the inside - hopefully it won't be too long before it will be open!  Looking to the right at the top of the temporary stairs

Looking to the left of the temporary stairs

Just inside the front door looking up the escalator (you can see the top of this escalator in my first inside picture above)

M and I are both excited about all the upcoming changes - not just at the mall, but in the area. It is going to be awesome!!!!   And who said - people don't like change?   Well depends on the change I guess.

Since I was at the mall - I had to stop in to say HI to my kid who was working at Teavana!!!!  She was hard at work making a sale when I arrived so I got to browse for a bit!

There is my worker bee M - all decked out in her Teavana apron.  We did a GREAT job of posing this picture!!!  Hide the hand cart, but cover up the store logo!!!!   Anyway - I love her theory on how she dresses affects her sales of the day.  Interesting, but could be true!!!   Apparently, this is a good sales outfit!!!!

OK - back to the studio and let's see what the heck is happening.  I swear I spend more time organizing and moving stuff than I get time to actually work!!!!   I think the professional organizers say - minimize your stuff - then there is less maintenance. While I am totally aware of that statement - I am intentionally ignoring it because I CAN DO IT ALL in my lifetime!!!!   Remember my T-shirt that says that???  

Anyway - after the embroidery club left on Wednesday - it was time to get organized. I needed to organize and prioritize. So I got all the stuff out of the storage room that had been crammed in there for the Sit n Sew days. Then I pulled some stuff off the 2014 shelf and there was stuff everywhere!!!!

One set of work tables

The other set of work tables

The 2014 shelf - see that big hole in the middle???

I am far from getting organized, BUT there was a purpose to what I did.  There were a few things that HAVE to be done by Christmas (all mine). All those projects got put into one big bag.

The "HAS to be done by Christmas" bag. See - that is focused AND prioritized

I am happy to report that THREE of the projects in the bag got finished yesterday and another one is well on the way to completion!!!!!   Oh yes - I am in very good shape to get everything done for Christmas that has to be done!!!!!  So yes - there are TWO more projects in the bag that HAVE to be done, one that is half done and another project that I would LIKE to get done. All very doable - none of them are big. Two days at most.

Next up was the basket of quilts that need borders, bindings and backings.

A basket of quilt tops and fabric for the borders, bindings and backings.  This is probably TWO days worth of work. No urgency - but would be nice to get it done and use the basket for something else!!!!   AH - the next round of quilts that need borders, backings and bindings!!!!   There are lots of those around here. 

 You see - I am very good at going out and buying MORE storage boxes or baskets, but I have to start emptying what I have and get the projects done!!!!!   Even if they get to the quilting state with a backing, border and binding - I am OK with that. Although that pile is getting HUGE and will need to be addressed soon.

This bag is also pretty urgent.  It is stuff that I have to do for customers (NOT quilting - that is in another area). Yes - it is big - bigger than I would like so it MUST become a focus and a priority!!!!!   These are complete quilts that I have to make. In total - we are looking at about 10 days worth of work.  A BIG guestimate. 

Then I sorted through some of the other stuff and this is what else I have............

This pile is BAGS - bags that re half together in most cases. Bags take a bit longer to put together so there is probably THREE days of work here. 

I know I know - when I say THREE days of work - it is more likely SIX!!!!!   But if I am left alone (which I love) I can be VERY productive.   Don't worry - I like company, but when I am on my own - I can sew up a storm.


The next category was store samples!!!!   Oh yes - there are a "number" of samples that need to be made/finished.

Store samples that need to be made/finished  - notice I am not putting any numbers on each category - let's just say that each has a NUMBER of projects.   This pile will takes weeks to get through. Well maybe not weeks - but it won't get cleared up over night!!!!

 Essentially I went through the stuff out in the open and picked up ALL the projects that NEED to be done or those that I WANT to get done in the near future. How fast I can work through them - well that will remain to be seen.

But here is an example of how close things are to being done.  I found these wildly pieced blocks from scraps.  There were THREE blocks missing because I had run out of scraps.

A very scrappy I Spy quilt - now all blocks (99) are done

Grabbed my I Spy scrap box and made the missing three blocks. 

Now that top just needs to be sewn together!!!    Hmmm - add that to the seven others that just need to be sewn together!!!

Then I also sorted through some of the fabric that I inherited this past week.  I found HUGE quantities of fleece sample squares. I sorted them -

funky stuff in one pile

plaids in another

There is enough in each pile to serge together to get a nice scrappy quilt top.  Those would be easy and fast to do.  I might do that later today - just for a break.

I also got one more quilt quilted yesterday.

Charity quilt - DONE

Tried out a new pattern - Lyrical - not bad

Then I got the quilt trimmed, made the binding and got it sewn on

Trimmed the quilt I quilted a couple of days ago - made the binding and sewed that binding on as well. 

Just wanted to share with you my sewing table.  Oh yes - it is nice and clear because I am trying to be productive and if I can keep that sewing area clear - I will sew. If it gets messed up - I won't!!!!

Sewing area - CLEAR!!!!!

I also made the binding and sewed it onto another quilt as well and I don't have a picture. Drat!

Now I bet you want to know the progress of the Storm at Sea (which is a store sample).   Well............

Storm at Sea - top almost done!!!!!!!!!   It measures about 75 inches squares

 I want to add TWO borders to it and I am struggling with the fabric. I don't have much in this colour way left in my stash and I went to Ruti's to buy the outer border. I only bought a meter because I wasn't sure it would be the right colour. Well the other day - I decided that YES - it was the right colour. When I went back to get more, it was gone. It is really an ordinary blue but it was gone. So I have enough for a scrappy first border, a solid second border and well I found something in my stash for the binding.  Good grief!!!   But this is what I love - solving problems with the sewing!!!!

The first scrappy border

And my long shoe horn went missing a while back.  Not sure what happened to it, but very hard to replace. It was just a plain old plastic thing, but I loved it for my boots. Well I have looked everywhere and no luck finding one.  I told M to find one in the mall on her break yesterday and this is what I got!!!!

A fancy long shoe horn!!!!

The other thing and this was a bit of a wake up call.  Well I knew the problem was there. It is my 50,000 pictures.  I found the picture I was looking for - but it took a LONG time. So I have decided that I need to do something about it. Part of the problem was HOW to organize those pictures.  After locating the missing photo - I have decided that they will get downloaded into folders by year and within year - by date of the photo being taken. Then each photo will be tagged TO DEATH so that if I want to find something - it will be a snap.  Now this is going to take a bit of time, but I will do it because I want to use my pictures.

So here is the plan of action.

1. ALL memory cards MUST be downloaded. Just one left to download. 
2. Make TWO backups of the external hard disk. 
3. Delete all memory cards.  That will clear up that mess. 
4. Move all the folders around so that the pictures are in ONE folder per year and then by date (which they are automatically) so that sounds like a big job, but I don`t think it is huge. 
5. Make TWO new backups of the external hard disk. 

Then it should be easy to take a couple of folders (by date) each day, cull the duds and tag the rest.  Oh yes - it sounds easy!!!!   Well - I am off to download the last memory card - the one in the camera - oh yes - I must set up a routine for pictures for the new year so I don`t end up with a mess again.



Don't make lists - unless you want to. If I wrote down all the projects I had to do - well I would faint and it would take days to make the list, so that is a waste of time. However I sorted the current projects - what HAS to be done for me, what has to be done for customers, what has to be done for store samples. I have a couple of other categories as well, but those are three critical ones. There are deadlines attached to those projects.  The rest of the stuff technically can be shoved into bags and put away.  No sense cluttering up the space with stuff that I know I won't get a chance to work on for a while.

I hope to make that shelf work for me this year. Instead of putting things on it that I would LIKE to do - I am putting things on the shelf that I HAVE to do.  Then I can keep my tables clear and coming into a clean space is so much more welcoming than coming into one that is cluttered beyond belief.  I am giving myself until the end of the year - I am hoping to get a LOT accomplished in that time frame so that I might be able to sneak a couple of "I would LIKE to do" back on the shelf.  BUT I must be able to clear all the tables and the floor - that is my goal by the end of the year. EVERYTHING must have a home - even if the home is a bag in storage. I hope those bags will not be huge!!!!!  

Now here is YOUR assignment. 

Everyone is different for this - so you have to be flexible. 

Sort through your projects - which ones have a deadline?????   Start by pulling out all those. How many are there????   Take a generous guess at how much time it will take to get them done. 

Sort them in piles or bags that are easy to get to. 

Put the REST OF THE STUFF AWAY!!!!!   It is just going to clutter your brain and prevent you from working!!!!

Get that step done and let`s see how it goes.   How many projects with deadlines do you have?????   

On that note - I am out of here because I have a LOT of work I would like to do today!!!!!


Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!

Knit one, purl one - oops make that knit knit knit

Had a date with a sewing machine yesterday.  The new one that I am reviewing for QUILTSocial. So all of that will be revealed in early October. I am not even sure of the dates yet.   

But I am working hard on my knitting.  I HAVE to get that afghan done and once it is done - there will be a HUGE moment of decision - what to work on next. 

My completed blocks - there are seventeen of them

Almost done one more and then three more skeins of yarn and a bag of leftovers. 

I am going to continue to make blocks until everything is used up. I hope to have 25 in total - the blocks are not square so I hope 25 will give me a decent size once I knit in the sashing.  I know - I have to knit in sashing!!!!    Just think how easy and fast that would be with quilting!!!!   But I watched EIGHT episodes of Modern Family the other night.  I got the Second Season on DVD from the library and I have ONE WEEK to watch it.   Going to be another marathon later tonight. 

I was on a roll yesterday - at least until  my allergies kicked in and then I wilted like a flower in a hot desert sun.  But at one point I thought I would get my label maker out.  I know it needed batteries and I could just take the batteries from the old label maker and use in the new. Simple right?

Nope - I open up the old label maker and it uses six AA batteries, but the new one - it uses six AAA batteries.  Shoot - I wanted to get rechargeable ones. 

Of course NOT the same batteries and NOT the same cartridge - the old cartridge doesn't exist any more

I needed a break in the afternoon so I rode my bike to the mall.   There is one good thing about riding your bike - you are limited by what you can carry home. I went to Target to get the batteries (I ended up getting non rechargeable batteries - did you know that all chargers will charge TWO AAA at once - not more), then zipped off to Teavana to see M who was working.  Oh boy - they have some interesting tea flavours for the fall.  Spice Apple Cider and Pumpkin Spice.  I am a sucker for both flavours and next thing I knew - I bought all this. 

I bought TWO kinds of tea, a bag of rock sugar, a tea canister and the PERFECT tea maker.  Then M said if I bought the SPOON for $4 - she would get a gold star.  Kind of like a hat trick - I bought ALL the components of a good cup of tea. 

So as I was feeling sorry for myself with my stuffed head - she made me Spice Apple Cider tea.   You put the rock sugar in the tea maker, then the hot water, then add the tea - we can't be damaging those tea leaves by pouring hot water on them.   Then set the timer for 5 minutes to let the concoction steep. Then - and this is the neat part ---  place the Perfect Tea Maker ON TOP of your cup.  A little spring opens a spout in the bottom and your tea pours into your cup. It is only $20 and I think is a super deal!!!!!   As M says - the leaves are not all crushed down into a regular tea strainer thing (whatever it is called) and so the water has a chance to get flavour from ALL the leaves.

Tea going into the cup

It is really a nice little tea maker.   I like it. Thanks M!!!

Well after leaving the mall with my bag of tea supplies and my bag with my wallet and batteries - I stopped at Indigo and bought a book and a magazine.  Yep - then I crammed all three bags into my bike basket - shoot I should have taken a picture.  Anyway - it all fit but no room for anything else!!!!!

I didn't even stop at Tim's.  I am down to ONE medium tea a day from them.  My stomach is not liking copious amounts of their tea these days. 

On that note - I am out of here - it's Monday Mania and I've got sewing today!!!!!!   (But not before I hit the gym)

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!