Multi-tasking at its best

My brain always seems to be working overtime, and yesterday was no exception. I'm sure you all have your favorite people that you follow on Facebook or IG. You know the ones that are either building/renovating a house/castle/chateau or own pets (goldens, huskies, or other breeds with a few cats thrown in. And as they reach their various milestones, they post the numbers. 

But have you noticed how the number of content creators has exploded? Everyone thinks they can be a content creator because how hard can it be? And some of them are definitely better than others, but have you ever considered the competition between them and the pressure to produce more and better videos than the others? More exciting videos and they get a bigger share of your time, and thus money. 

And all it does is make us spend more time online, and we get nothing done. Putting those videos together is a lot of work and can be extremely intrusive to the content creators' lives, but a number of them have given up good day jobs because the videos (and your views and likes) are more lucrative. 

But here's the thing—if you think your day job is stressful, what about constantly being on camera, thinking about the next topics, and editing? And you can't complain to your boss because you are the boss. 

And you are setting yourself up for a lot of criticism. When these content creators first came out, I thought it was very cool and subscribed to several of them. I don't watch them as much anymore. Why? Because what they are showing has just become silly, and, in some instances, I find it wasteful to see so many dollar-store props end up in the landfill. 

Or to be told by a young couple, "you probably don't understand our vision, just wait for it to be finished," when it's perfectly clear that whatever they are talking about is NOT new. We understand perfectly what you are saying because we already have that feature in our house or whatever. And many times, in house building, I see people adopting trends because they're trendy, but they're certainly not practical. The worst offenders are the "smarter" ones who install some feature because it's going to be maintenance-free. HAH!!! Owning a house, no matter the features, requires maintenance. Sorry! 

Will these content creators ever go away? I'm not sure, but just be mindful of what you watch. 

It was a crazy day, as I have a few tasks to finish before next week, and I don't want to fail at them. Do you know how hard it was to find a dog sitter for one day in a different city than where you live? 

It was insane, and I swear I spoke/texted/emailed every dog sitter in Nanaimo to find someone who would even answer me. I started by leaving phone messages, then realized these people were probably younger and only had cell phones, so I could text them. But the number of people who never responded is obscene. 

Anyway, I was on my phone and computer a lot yesterday as I tackled that task. I had another task that needed a lot of attention with multiple phone calls and emails, but it was accomplished as well. Fingers crossed that it all works out. It's out of my hands now. 

And let's not talk about passwords or phone verification issues. I swear that is going to be the death of me. I got booted out of a site for exceeding my attempts at phone verification. I get it that these steps are there to prevent AI from encroaching on websites, but it has become absolutely crazy!!! 

I want to go back to a simpler time when we didn't have cell phones! OK - I might not be that crazy, but all these security levels are insane, and it's only going to get worse as AI becomes smarter. Sigh........

I managed to get one more of the community project quilts done. This is number six of eleven. I'm on the other side of the mountain now!!!

Number six of eleven of the community project quilts

As I was buzzing around Studio B looking for something that I never found, I discovered the kit for this small pillow. All the fabrics were in the kit, and I had pulled thread for it. Good grief—if all my threads were pulled from all the projects, I might need to buy a new cabinet to store them! 

A kit I found 

All the embroidery was completed yesterday. I didn't put a red tail on the bird, but in hindsight, I should have. I am NOT ripping that out. It is what it is. You know what? He looks just fine the way he is!!! A bluebird doesn't have a red tail. By the way, this is a free download if you want. It's on Kimberbell's site and called A Little Birdie Told Me. 

The embroidery is complete.

I just might forge ahead and finish the pillow today. It's small and very cute. 

Then I needed to get the backing prepped for a quilt. OH MY --- I bought this fabric recently, and its quality is amazing. It's thick, and you can't see a single thing through it. That's pretty unusual these days. 

Incredible quality (excellent) on this fabric

I laid out one more of the dog fabric quilts on the design wall and arranged the squares. They are now in labeled rows and tucked in a bag for the next retreat. I had to add two squares, but quickly found an appropriate print in the still-full basket of dog fabric in the stash room. 

This dog fabric quilt is ready to sew together.

That left the design wall empty, so I dug out the next large project that I want to work on. It's part of my 2026 UFOs and is on the Visual To-Do list. OH MY --- I thought it was more together than it is. Only one quarter of it is intact, and the rest is in pieces. 

Tequila Lime quilt top

I'll have to sort that out later today so I can start to sew it together. I see I still need to do some trimming, but thankfully, all the paper piecing is done. This was Tequila Lime that I taught in 2023. Oh my -- how quickly time flies! 

I was given a few other tasks for the upcoming wedding. Things that I had to make or alter. Thankfully, none of them were too complex, but some required a bit of ingenuity. In total, there are five things I was asked to make or wanted to make. Four of the five are done, and I have all day to work on the last one. 

Of course, I'm still in the process of making travel arrangements. So help me god, but I have nothing on the calendar, and then everything hits at the same time. Sometimes, the only thing required for travel is booking a plane ticket. But this time, I need multiple planes, cars, hotels in various cities, and multiple dog sitters for various dogs! I'll make the final arrangements later today, and then I think everything will be done. I'll need the weekend to finish some packing for when I get back, as I have back-to-back events this month, and it's going to be fun to keep everything straight. 

As I find or remember things, I'm setting them out in piles so it won't be a mad scramble when it's time to pack them. 

Does anyone have any experience with this tool for setting snaps and rivets? VARIO creative tool by PRYM. I spoke to Emmaline Bags the other day as I was contemplating buying the big table press. But they said they are moving to this lighter tool and mentioned that unless I was riveting into thick leather, this one was likely suitable for all my needs. 

On that note, it's time to get moving on the day. Lots to do and hopefully today will be stress-free!!! Yesterday was a bit more stressful than I would like! OH -- just made the final travel arrangement. Well, that is, until we need to come home! 

OH MY -- I have the back door open, and the smell of lilacs in the house is almost overpowering. I can't imagine what it smells like in the gazebo!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Did I need to buy this?

Part one of the trip is done. I had a couple of events for Castle Sewing, and that marks the end of the business part of the trip. Yeah! It's not that I don't like it, but now I can just relax, which is even better. 

But I don't know about relaxing because it's 4:00 AM and I'm up because I'm going to be on the move again today. 

It rained all day yesterday, but it was warm - I saw people walking around in shorts and T-shirts. Actually, it was hilarious because I had stopped at Tim's in the morning to get a tea, and there was a guy and a girl huddled in front of one of those fake fireplaces, and he was wearing shorts! It just looked so awkward. 

Oh my— you are going to yell at me when you see what I bought at the store. It's in my suitcase and I'm not going to dig it out. Wait-- I spotted it on their website. I could grab that photo. Let me do that. I can't find it, so I'll have to take a picture later or find it elsewhere on the internet. 

I bought three things, none of which together cost much, and I have room in my suitcase, so all is good. 

Oh -- I found it. 

A dog panel

Yes -- that is a panel related to dogs!!! Do I need this with a basket of dog fabric? No!!! But this will make a nice center, and I can use the dog fabric to make it into a quilt. This one will be for me!!!

I also spotted the True North canvas tote bag panel, so I got one. I'm not a fan of making the bag as is. I always put fusible fleece on the bag and add a lining because otherwise, it just looks way too limp and cheap! Yes - I am very picky about my tote bags! 

True North canvas tote panel

When I was at Tim's in the morning to get my tea, I spotted this at the counter. Oh my --- 

Novelty socks

Yep - that is novelty socks at Tim's. I did not buy a pair! 

But when I got in the car, I had a problem. There is a cup holder, but it was HUGE. The two spaces would be great if I had my big water bottle with me, but with a Tim's cup? This is going to be a problem. 

Hmmmm -- as I looked at the cup holder, two buttons popped into view that said PUSH, so I did, and then these little wing things popped out from the side and made the cup holder fit my water bottle and my cup of tea! 

An adjustable cup holder in the car

OK -- that's a pretty brilliant way to accommodate any size cup holder. That's in the K4 by Kia. 

On my drive from Langley to West Vancouver, it took me 50 minutes, so that shaved an hour off the trip from the day before, but there were still a lot of slowdowns. It's only 50 K after all, and it's mostly highway! Yes - I said there were no highways, but there is the Trans Canada. 

I arrived at M's, and while she's still not here, we had a phone chat and visited with Dillon and Bear. Then Dillon and I went out for dinner and had a nice chat. 

And I got to stay in their nice little guest suite on the main floor of the house they are renting. It's pretty cool and certainly much better than my little Airbnb place from last month. The previous night, I was in the Holiday Inn, so all is good so far. 

And let me say that Vancouver is a DARK city at night. If I were a pedestrian here, I would ensure that my entire body was covered in reflective tape. There are few street lights in West Vancouver, and with tons of trees and hedges, it is dark. The rain didn't help!

However, I'm on the move this morning and need to leave shortly. It's going to take a few connections to get to my next destination, so I need to get moving. 

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!

Unpacking from quilt retreat

OH ---- I learn so darn much from all of you that it blows my mind! I just read the comment because we were discussing ways to use up those partially wound bobbins. Well, why can't you use the partially wound bobbins (from the long arm) to piece with, but on TOP, not in the bobbin? DUH!!! I knew that!!! LOL

Perfect because there are some rogue colors in those bobbins that have been there for eons, and well, I don't need them. Here's the thing, because I'm sure many of you are gasping at the thought of using all these rogue colors to piece with. If the tension of your machine is good, NO ONE will see what color of thread you pieced with. 

Speaking of bobbins, I'll get to my story in a minute. 

We got the cars packed, the retreat house tidied, and the dishwasher turned on. I usually remember that about halfway home. I restarted my phone, and guess what? There were no issues with Android Auto timing out with the car. I should know that. Of course, DH asked me when I told him the story how often I restart my phone. HEY --- I restart my phone often enough, but it just never occurred to me to do it with the car. 

Like a computer, one should restart anything "smart" fairly often because updates are constantly happening - not that frequently, but often enough. The memory can become bogged down, or something else happens, but regularly rebooting is a good practice. 

It was nice to get home - poor Murphy is getting beside herself with all the coming and going in our house. She has another 11 days of it to deal with, and then everything will be back to normal. At least for those eleven days, I should only be out of the house for about six of them and not home for three nights spread out over the eleven days. 

And NO ONE believes me when I say October, November, and December will be quiet. NO ONE!!! Here's the thing -- my events have to be scheduled months in advance or at least four weeks, and there is NOTHING in the works. December is always a quiet month, so at this point, it all looks quiet. What could possibly get scheduled to cause issues? 

I will have a lot of work I want to do, but it shouldn't be overwhelming with events and classes. 

OK, here is the progress report on what I did yesterday morning before we left. I emptied a whole lot more bobbins - well, this was since Friday. What is left in that bobbin case is not a lot. I kept six bobbins because they were the new style. And there are four partially wound bobbins to deal with. One had Perle cotton on it, and I took it off when I got home. YES -- I put it with the rest of my Perle cotton threads. 

The bobbin situation when I left the retreat

I have one more of those bobbin holders, and it's also filled with this type of bobbin, all of which are partially wound. We will NOT go there and ask why I have so many. HEY ---I already gave away a huge pile of this size bobbin to someone else. They were all the multi-colored ones - I hope they were the new ones. In this bobbin holder, there is a different style bobbin as well, so I need to move those to a new place, as I sometimes get other machines that require that other size. I should do a post about bobbins one day!

My smaller-sized bobbin collection

I put three empty bobbins in my retreat supply box because it's good to have them handy for upcoming retreats, as I won't have these holders with me once they're empty. Then both of these holders went into the retreat bag for the next retreat, which is in December. OK -- so I'm away in December, but there is nothing else where I have to be away. Well, that's a lie since there is a guild talk in November. But that's it!!!

I feel pretty good about clearing up those bobbins -- don't worry, I have two more bobbin holders for the EPIC and icon series of machines, and let's not forget those long arm bobbins. It's kind of good to clear them up and start over! 

It will take a LOT of piecing to make that happen. 

I also got some more enders and leaders sewn together. When I got home, the bag was set beside the computer, and I hope to tackle that at the Virtual Retreat because I can set the laptop up by the ironing board or cutting table and press and trim to my heart's content without focusing on what I'm doing. I'm such a big talker, I don't get much done during those events. 

My ender/leader project

And here's my Halloween quilt. I got all the squares sewn together, and the first border is on! If I had gotten up early like I had planned to, I could have put the second and final border on. 

The tenth retreat quilt top is only missing one border

Here's what the second border looks like. I will not put this in the retreat bag for the next retreat. I should be able to get that border on in October. 

The border for the Halloween quilt

And of course, I had to put one last piece in the puzzle before I left. We left it up, and the house owner says it is fine to stay for the next retreaters!!! So imagine their surprise when they get there and there's a half-finished puzzle. I would be thrilled to death!!!! 

The puzzle progress

Can you believe I dug out a puzzle last night and put it on the stairs so I can take it up to Studio U? Yes --- I am going to delve into that pile of puzzles. I need to do that before I buy any more, and there are always good ones at the thrift shop!!!!

These were the only four project bags I took to the retreat, and they mostly carried the dog fabric quilts and fabrics. One by one, they were dumped on the cutting table, and I dealt with all the stuff. 

My project bags for this retreat

First up was to put the dog fabric away. I retrieved the basket from the stash room, and these were two pieces I had not taken with me. They are canvas/tapestry dog-themed, and I'll have to make something out of them or sell them. 

Canvas/tapestry dog fabric

I had purchased this piece of fabric years ago. OK -- let's face it -- that is NOT a dog print. It's more like a wild animal with big claws. It is now in my backing fabric pile for the community projects. 

Wild animal track print

There are many fabrics that I pull out of any basket and question why I purchased them. This is a draft stopper. You sew the two bits together (front and back), and why did I buy that? If anyone wants this, let me know (elainetheriault@gmail.com). It's yours for the taking. I do not want or need it. Or you could use it as a cushion! 

Dog-themed draft stopper! 

Here is the stack of quilt tops and fabrics that I pulled for the backs of these quilts. 

The pile of dog quilts and fabrics for the backing

Can you believe there is still this much dog fabric that went back on the shelf? See what I mean? Why the heck did I buy so much? I spotted a couple more panels in the basket, but they are more juvenile in style, so that's why they didn't go to the retreat with me. But wouldn't it be nice to say that in November, I'll pull this basket and deal with it? That would be amazing if I could tackle that. Let's wait and see. 

What remains for the dog theme

I pulled out the black and white scrap box, so there are loads of scraps in here that can be cut for that ender/leader project. I also set this beside the computer so that during a Virtual Retreat, I can go through the box and cut those 1½" by 2½" rectangles. 

The black and white scrap box

And now I'm all packed for the next retreat. The bag on the left has another ender/leader project in it (half-square triangles), a set of placemats, and my supply box. The bag on the right is the one I took and mostly brought back intact. It's filled with enough projects for a week. I'm ready!

I'm ready for the next retreat!

And there's the cutting table this morning. I have a few small things to deal with later today, and there are still those two projects that I must tackle, but that's after this next crazy spell is done!

The cutting table looks in good shape

I did take a wee break yesterday afternoon, and while I have a LOT of work to do, I spent a couple of hours just relaxing and finished my book. I needed to, and then I was able to sleep well. All is good, and I'm now going to walk the girls and head out to my meeting on the other side of the city. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!