An unventful travel day!

As I sit surrounded by junk in the office, I remind myself of the list I put together yesterday. I don't have time to deal with any of it today, but I'll keep plugging away at it. I just might have more incentive now. 

OH—there is one thing I need to add to that list, and this is NOT new. 

USE the good things NOW!!!! I don't care if this is your favorite china, crystal, or the FABRIC that is too good to cut. If you don't use it now, someone is going to take your precious china and dump it unceremoniously outside a thrift store drop box. That good fabric? It might go on the back of a community project quilt or be chopped into tiny pieces. If you don't use it now and enjoy what you bought, then someone else will do with it as they wish. 

It's like my china tea mugs. I bought them, put them in the cupboard for a special day. Then about ten years ago- no, make that eight years ago, as I bought them ten years ago- I started using them. EVERY DAY! I put them in the dishwasher even though it fades the paint. I DON'T CARE. I have two, and one day I use one and the next day it's the other. I am enjoying them - I get a wee thrill every time I pull them from the cupboard. When I'm gone - those mugs can go in the trash. I'm not kidding about the thrill - I LOVE those mugs, and using them makes me feel special - they have bicycles all over both of them, and they are fun! 

When I am gone, M might say, "I want one of those tea mugs because it was Mom's favorite." And they are my favorites because I USE them whenever I am at home. And only for tea and never in the microwave. Something doesn't become special when it's stored in a box in the back of the cupboard.  

Thankfully, I never got into the china-and-crystal thing. I have NOTHING exceptional in the dish department, EXCEPT for those two mugs. 

LOL --- I just checked my email, and I see that I've been upgraded in advance for my next flight in a couple of days, which is only an hour-long flight. It doesn't matter -- I'll take the upgrade when I can. But I never seem to get upgraded for the long flights. 

Yep—I'm back home, and I'm tired, but I'm off to work today. I'll be doing some demos of the PFAFF creative icon 3 at Sew Productive, in Acton. One session starts at 9 AM and the second one is at 2 PM. It's free, so if you are around and want to see what all the hype is about, come and check it out.

As far as travel days go, it was uneventful, which is just how I like it. I zipped over to my parents' in the morning, chatted for over an hour, and tried to tidy up some last-minute details. Only the bank is giving us grief, and I need to call them because there is one transaction we can't do online, and I'm not sure why. 

I know people drive through Saskatchewan and say it is so boring. People say the same about the Meseta part of the Camino in Spain. People ---- you get to see for miles, and the vistas do not disappoint. As many times as I have seen those wide-open spaces, I never tire of it. It's some of the most beautiful country in the world. The next time you want to drive across the country, please do NOT bypass Saskatchewan. It's beautiful in a different way than the mountains. 

Gassed up the car and dropped off the rental car. Since it was NOT at the airport location, they gave me a lift, so that was good. Then I filled up my water bottle at the refillable water station. And yes—that is my Booster Juice shake. I was running out of hands to hold everything. I didn't have to wait too long, and we were ready to board the plane. 

Refillable water station

I have no idea why I was so exhausted, but I was asleep before the plane even took off! The next thing I know, we have been in the air for almost an hour! I didn't do anything physical, but it was exhausting mentally. I went to bed early, and I could probably still be asleep if I had time. But that's OK. 

Thankfully, I had all my samples sitting on a table in Studio B, so all I needed to do was grab a small suitcase and throw them in. 

I LOVE these logic puzzle books. I'm speeding right along in this one, and I'm somewhere in the 30s. There are 50 in the book, so ONLY after I finish this one will I allow myself to start a new one. Some are quick; a couple of them have given me grief, but it all keeps the brain active. I will do whatever I can to keep my mental faculties working. Dementia seems to run in my family (sigh), so I have to try to prevent it from attacking my brain cells. At least it hits (if it's going to) in the 80s, so I still have time! 

Logic puzzles

Before bed, I tidied up a few things in Studio B. A small gift from someone at the retreat. Two crocheted dishcloths and a scrub pad. You can never have too many dishcloths.

New dishcloths and a scrubby

Those scrub pads are crocheted, and this is what they are made of. The one above isn't sparkly, but this ball that I purchased is. I had thrown it in my bag to work on at retreat. Alas, that wasn't to be this time. 

Yarn to make a scrubby

I also acquired a new puzzle from someone, so it is now added to the pile, and this one isn't going to be easy!!!! I won't have time for a couple of weeks to work on a puzzle, but I'll do what I can. Maybe I can get the next one sorted, and that would be great. It's a good activity for the evening when your brain is dead. 

A new jigsaw puzzle

And darn those new food labels. I wondered if anything would be classified with all three "bad" items, and yes—I spotted this on the kitchen counter this morning. DH bought half a pumpkin pie because you can't live for fall without one. 

The warning label on the pumpkin pie

The trick is to LIMIT, but not eliminate foods with those warnings! I tried—I really tried — to eat better on this past trip, but I wasn't always successful. It is what it is. 

I have to run because I need to walk the girls. They were so excited to see me last night, but I think all they wanted was a walk, and I was tired. So now I will have to walk them together this morning because of time, and they are going to be wild! Slow and steady. 

It will be a WONDERFUL day!!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

I've got mail!

It was bound to happen - I've developed a sore throat! It's been years since I've been sick, and I could feel it coming on yesterday. Well, nothing that a few throat lozenges can't cure! (I hope!) I've no plans to go anywhere, and nothing urgent to do, so the timing is right. But still -- I HATE being sick! So far, it's just a sore throat; let's hope it doesn't develop into something more. 

I accomplished more paperwork, and I'm getting things under control. I still have one distribution list that has to be created today, and then everyone will have been contacted. Then it's time to start planning! 

I got one binding done. Yep -- I slipped on that goal, but I'm not going to worry about it. 

Binding on a Project Linus quilt

I've got a couple of quilts set up to work on later today. But I also want to work on some other things. I have finished the Farmer's Wife quilt, and I needed to clean up the bits. The book has been loaned to someone, so it was the leftover scraps to deal with. There is also one extra block. I want to make a small sample that I travel with, so I started making three more blocks. 

Cutting three more blocks for Farmer's Wife

Here are the three partially finished blocks and the one finished block. Where is that missing section? How can I lose that so quickly? 

Four extra blocks for a mini Farmer's Wife quilt

I got another community project quilt back. So this got added to the stack of quilts to be quilted. It was a quilt that was supposed to go into a magazine, and then got the magazine folded, so I had fabric and a plan. Rose did a great job, considering I gave her a picture of the finished quilt without instructions! Thanks, Rose!

A community project quilt

Well, it was my lucky day - I got a lot of mail. Well, in the last two days. 

I'm going to leave out names -- the senders know when they are! A HUGE thank you to you all! 

OH --- this kit came as part of an Advent Calendar. I had seen one completed in our Out of the Box class, and it's so cute. The person who sent me this kit does not like handwork, so she forwarded it to me. THANK YOU!!! I love it -- I doubt I'll have time to finish before this Christmas, but I'll get to work on that! Will the sender be mad if I do all the work by machine? Hey -- who says you have to do what the kit says!

Redwork Tree Kit

How many of you have knitted a dishcloth? So most of us, but look at this one. OH MY -- it's hilarious! 

My FISH dishcloth

Do you see what it is? It's a FISH dishcloth! I would love to be at any dinner at this house. The maker is always making little money holders for her grown kids! It seems there is much frivolity and fun! 

I got the FQ I won while attending a Zoom meeting at a store. This was the one where I was trying to fly under the radar, and my name got called out. Oh well! 

The FQ I won

This next item did not come in the mail but was delivered to the door. These are the patterns for the 365 quilt. This is a project I'm going to tackle next year. I doubt I'll be able to finish it next year, but I will tackle it. I have about 45 blocks completed out of 365. So let's see how much I can do. I have a huge basket of scraps for this, and I'd like to get that cleaned up!

The patterns for the 365 quilt

And then this box arrived.

A big box

Oh boy --- I had this product in my hands a week ago and wasn't sure, but when someone mentioned they bought it because they saw it on my blog and that there was one left, I had to buy it! Talk about FOMO!

What is it? 

An ESCAPE Advent Calendar

Yep --- another adventure advent calendar! I'll save this one for next year. Let's hope it's easier than the one I got this year. My brain may be in a new dimension by then. 

And then, to get "free" shipping on this order, I had to buy two more puzzles. 

The ORANGE puzzle

The barn quilt puzzle

I can't believe I did that. I NEVER do that. But this all came from Puzzles Canada in Georgetown. The service was FAST, and the staff was accommodating. You can visit in person or shop online. But if you are looking for puzzles, I'd check this place out FIRST. 

Speaking of puzzles, I put the other one away, and someone asked for it, and it's gone! Now that the table was clean, I decided to open this puzzle. This is a mystery puzzle and was loaned to me by a friend. Actually, it's called an ESCAPE puzzle. I know  - just shoot me now! 

An escape puzzle

As I was positioning all the pieces, I noticed many numbers that have nothing to do with the picture. And the PICTURE on the box is NOT what the final picture will look like. Oh boy! I have never done one of these before, so it will be challenging. I'll have to go by color for most of it; the colors are muted. 

Sorting the puzzle pieces

I'm working on the border, and it's challenging since some of the pieces (who am I kidding -- MOST of them) will fit into each other. The only clue you have is color! Thankfully, I changed the lights in that corner, so I have excellent light to work by. 

Working on the border

Once I'm done with the border, I'll start picking the like colors and work from there. There is a solution to the mystery, which I have carefully put back in the box, and hopefully, I can figure out the puzzle. 

Do you consider puzzles a time waster? I don't. Yes -- they consume a ton of time, but you get HOURS of entertainment for your money. You don't have to find a home for the end result -- you simply pack it up and pass it on. And the brain power used to make these is enormous. Color and pattern recognition and a lot of cognitive skills are required to put together a puzzle. 

But how the heck did this happen? I said I did NOT need any new puzzles as I have 30 in the closet. NO MORE puzzle buying for a long time! 

OH -- a stack of puzzles

I'm still unpacking stuff that I bought a while ago. Here is a beautiful array of thick shimmery threads. 

Beautiful threads from Wonderfil

And the quest for mylar continues, but with a bit of research and some help from many who are scouring the shelves of stores across the province or doing some research, I stumbled upon a site last night that has cleared up the mystery. Once I wrap my head around it, I'll share the information with you. 

I find it fascinating to learn the WHY and the HOW instead of just taking it at face value, and trust me, some of the stuff we have seen online is NOT correct. But we all know that - right? 

So I've got a bit of paperwork this morning, and then I'll spend the afternoon sewing unless I'm out walking. Another 14+ KM day yesterday, and I still have 169 KM to walk or ride my bike before the end of this year! I WILL do it. 

Remember that we have a Virtual Retreat day on December 24. For those of you who will be spending the day at home alone. And by the sounds of the weather forecast, that could be MANY of us. Here's the Zoom link. We start sewing at Noon!

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81403746455?pwd=ckhUK3dkQjdvSWt5UFhRS3BacGZJZz09 Meeting ID: 814 0374 6455 Passcode: 175110

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

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Knitting mishaps

So I took a bunch of pictures with my camera and there was a problem with the disk. I have to retake them, but not this morning. You're stuck with a couple of pictures that I took with my phone.

It's been two weeks since we had our Monday sewing and it was great to get back and see everyone. Lots going on and there was lots of chatter and show n tell. I tucked in the ends of all the dishcloths - that was part of the pictures to show you all that I had made. Tomorrow.

Then it was back to the embroidery where I made good progress. I might finish this block next week and that will leave ONE block to go. I'd better get myself organized and get the pieced blocks for the border finished. I know exactly where they are!

Oh, shoot - I have a wee bit of extra time - I'm going to run around with my phone and snap those pictures for you. Here are some of the missing photos.

I had this much yarn left over after knitting the last dishcloth. I think I told you how I made that happen. When the ball was almost finished, I found the center of the remaining length of yarn. I did the increases until I hit that point and then decreased. The last one was smaller than the rest, but that's OK.

The leftover yarn

Here's the stack of dishcloths that I got from one of those large balls of cotton yarn. In total there are 11 dishcloths. That's a lot of dishcloths. The important thing is that the large ball of cotton yarn is used up! I'm pretty sure that I do NOT have any more of that yarn around the house. I'm throwing these dish clothes in the drawer with the rest of the ones that I have. They do break down after a while and I now have plenty of replacements.

Eleven dishcloths from one large ball of yarn

When I found the stuff in my knitting bag, two dishcloths were already made. I don't know what I was thinking, but the edges on two sides (must be the decreases) look terrible. That's OK. It's a dishcloth. I don't think it needs to look pretty since I'm not giving them away. But good grief - I thought I was a better knitter or could at least read instructions better!!!!  I had a good laugh over that!!!

The edges on the decrease side are a tad wonky!

And tension? What tension! The size of the dishcloths varied in size. However, this variation in size is because of the small one with the last bit of yarn. Still a decent size.

The largest and the smallest

Oh and here's the embroidery block that I'm working on. There are a lot of snowflakes at the top and one more snowman so that will take a wee bit to do.

Embroidery block

Here's the bag of pieced blocks. They are cut - just need to be sewn together.

Pieced blocks for Winter Wonderland

I was going to stop at the recycling depot on my way to Monday sewing, but it didn't open until 8:30 so I stopped on the way home. Ah - what a good feeling to wing all that cardboard in the giant recycling bin.

When I got home, I decided to tackle more of those boxes and I was also waiting for someone to come and pick up the tires. I can't believe how many messages I received about those tires. Loads! People even had the gall to offer me next to nothing for them. I don't think so! I still sold them for relatively cheap because I wanted them to go. While I waited, I managed to fill the car one more time with cardboard boxes.

I'm a wee bit embarrassed that I let those boxes pile up for so long. What was I thinking? Oh well - I'm over that - let's move on.

This is what the garage looked like when I started.

Before

And after about two hours of flattening boxes, this is what it looks like now.

After

Except for the bike and the wheelbarrow, a good part of what's left (on the floor) will be heading off in the junk trunk probably next week. And now you can see that big long box on the floor. I got a great suggestion for purchasing some wall brackets and storing it on the wall. I'm going to check that out.

There's still a lot of stuff - well not really. If you took away the three bikes and the recycling carts - there's not that much stuff here.

The other side of the garage

As I was laying awake very early this morning, I was going through the various rooms in my head to see what else can be gotten rid of. I know there are pieces of wood (from shelving) in the basement. Those are coming up today. Along with other stuff.

I'm going to sort the stuff and take one load to the recycling depot each day this week. I'm so pumped about getting rid of this stuff. The garage floor is a disgusting dirty mess. No worries as once all the stuff is out or mostly out, it won't take long to sweep it and then wash it down.

What's shocking is that that mini transformation took about two hours. Really?? I couldn't find two hours before to clean up that mess?

I know for the neatniks amongst you that this is totally a disaster and how could I let it get that way. I don't know. Those damn hoarding tendencies crept in. Thankfully, I'm taking charge of my brain and not letting it win!

I did keep a couple of boxes for shipping things. They are neatly stacked on some of the shelving that we had installed a couple of years ago. Along with our beer store recycling. Don't ask! Did you notice that there's even empty space on the top shelf? We might need that later but for the moment, it's empty space.

Storage shelves are neat and tidy

After the tires left, I was feeling great and I got to work sewing. The borders for this Kimberbell quilt (Jingle all the Way) were cut and needed to be sewn together and added to the quilt. Both borders are now on the quilt. I did find a backing for it. That system is working so well - I'm super excited about it. Imagine how fun it is to walk up to the shelving and quickly scan the items (without moving anything) and within seconds, find a piece of backing fabric that's appropriate. I do need to find something for the binding as I didn't have enough of either fabric used in the borders.

Borders are on the quilt

As I was poking through several closets this morning, I came across two more big pieces of fabric that can be used for backings. They'll get measured and added to the shelving later today. I know there are a lot more large pieces in those baskets of fabric and as space is made on the backing shelving, those pieces will get moved.

Two more large pieces of fabric suitable for backings

The more that I do this tidying, the more that I want to get rid of stuff. It's so freeing. I knew it would be, but somehow, my brain was wired to not let it go. The shed and the garage have been fairly easy. I know the tough part will come when I hit the boxes in the office. I was chatting with one of the ladies at sewing and she said that I probably don't need anything in the boxes. I know that. I truly know in my heart that I won't keep much of what's in the boxes, but I have to go through them. Don't ask me why - I just do.

Hey - when I was a kid and my Mom used to can Saskatoon berries. When we ate them during the winter, I would eat four at a time. Not three, not five, but four on my spoon EVERY TIME. It was a crisis (in my mind when the number didn't work out at the end). There's some wiring not quite right in my brain!!!!  So I'll go through the boxes of paper. I'm just hoping that I can go through them fast!! That's going to be my goal - go through them, but go fast!

I can't wait for the end result! For the moment, I'm sneaking in an hour a day to get that garage in order. And it's so doable and I haven't even called the junk people yet!

Speaking of knitting, I found this article about a rebel knitter. She's 104 years old.

Here's a challenge for you - what can you do with ONE HOUR devoted to decluttering in your house???  If you dare, send me a before and after. I'd be happy to post the pictures!!!!  Here's my e-mail. 

On that note, I'm out of here!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!