Snowmageddon!!

WOW -- that's all I can say about the snow! Where the heck did it all come from? I don't even know when it started, but it was early in the morning, and the girls and I had a lovely walk in the snow. And then it kept snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing. 

The wild and long snowstorm

I went out to shovel at 2 PM and shoveled for about 40 minutes. I cleared half the driveway. I had put the car in the garage in the morning because it would make it easier to clear the driveway. This was the end of the driveway -- that's how much snow was in the street! Only once before did we have that much snow in the street. Our street didn't get plowed within 24 hours, and we were supposed to go to a quilt retreat on Monday morning. We had to postpone the retreat by a day because my car had very low clearance and I couldn't get out of the driveway!

The amount of snow in the street at 2 PM

It almost seemed that as fast as I was shoveling, it was being filled in again! Last night, when I shoveled, I did one swipe with the shovel where I had started! Look how much had reaccumulated! 

I could barely keep up with the falling snow

KU went out and did some shoveling in the afternoon. I went out again at 7 PM and shoveled for another half hour or so, and there was as much snow in the driveway as there had been at 2 PM. How is that possible? What does one do with the snow? Get a shovel, bend, and lift! Those snowbanks along the side of the driveway are a tad tall now. 

Oh my gosh -- look at the depth of snow on the house! When this stuff finally starts to melt, we're going to have icicles on the front of our home. GRRRRR! We do need to resolve that insulation issue. 

The snow on the roof

So at 3 AM or thereabouts, the plow came by. Actually, it's a massive backhoe loader. The sidewalk plow had already been by, so that is a huge bonus! My tax dollars are going to an excellent cause! But there was a massive windrow at the bottom of the drive. I know it doesn't look too big in that photo, but it was substantial. 

After the plow passed

Shortly after, the backhoe loader came back to take care of the windrow. And it's not always the windrow's height, but its width! Because we're on a curve, it can be a crazy situation. I happened to catch him cleaning the windrow, which is another new thing for this year and well worth every penny of tax dollars I paid for that service. 

Clearing the windrow

And this is what we are left with. The guarantee was to have a 10-foot opening at the end of the driveway. I assume that is the width of the blade. I know I can't live with that bit on the right-hand side, so I'll be out later to get rid of it. That'll be easy - just push it out in the pile at the side of the curb. No lifting required - or not much. 

The end of our driveway is clear (ish!)

I've already been out shoveling again for 40 minutes and cleared almost all of the top part of the driveway above the sidewalk. And the front step. At least when I was done, NO MORE snow had fallen, so it was much more satisfying. I figure it'll take me another 40 minutes to clear the bottom part of the driveway, and that's OK. I rather enjoy being outdoors, and again, if you dress appropriately, you are warm. No need to overdress with all the exertion, but my hands were cold at one point, and I had to get a warmer pair of gloves. 

I will say that they were super fast with the plowing. We are one of the last streets to be plowed because we are a cul-de-sac. They showed up at 3 AM, but the sidewalk plow had already passed, and then they came back to clear the windrows. It was very efficient! 

I know there's going to be a ton of people complaining to the city about the amount of snow. The last time I checked, the city isn't responsible for the amount of snow, and there are only so many places to put it. Get over it -- this is CANADA! 

It makes me think of one winter in Montreal. There was a brutal snowstorm, and the city couldn't keep up. I was on my way home, almost at the condo, when I got stuck. People were just abandoning their cars in the middle of the street, as did I. It was a residential street, and with the help of others, I got it out the next day. 

Speaking of snow - look at this girl! She is super happy to be outside, and I don't know how many times she has gone out and plunked herself in the snow. The Husky? Oh - she was asleep in her warm bed in the house!

MOM - I love the snow

The next quilt waiting to be quilted on the long arm was a big one with a Minky backing, which I wasn't too keen on loading, so I loaded a small wallhanging of mine instead. And got it quilted before we started the Virtual Retreat. 

One of my quilts - DONE

That quilt got trimmed, and now I have a stack of FOUR small projects that are trimmed and waiting for the binding to be stitched on. I ran out of the small tags I use for my projects, so these are on hold. The tags are in the mail, but where? They gave me a tracking number, but I don't know how they were sent. I'll see if I can figure it out today. Of the four projects, three have been hanging around for a very long time. It's good that they are now quilted. Think PROGRESS!!

Projects waiting to be bound

As someone mentioned in the comments, small successes are actually ENORMOUS successes because you get into the habit of finishing. You can see progress, and it all counts!!!

I was getting tired towards the end of the Virtual Retreat, so I tidied up all the threads, fabric, and other bits and pieces from the recently finished projects. That included rolling up this partial ball of yarn that I had been using. 

Rolling up leftover yarn

I had a great discussion with someone about to-do lists, and I'm going to try using an app. It's going to take me time to ease myself into it, but I do like the fact that the list will be with me always. But that didn't stop me from creating a written list on a small clipboard I found while decuttering the office. 

My week's goals in Studio B

I am a very visual person, and the fact of handwriting those items on the list is almost enough for me to mentally commit to them. It's like if I write it down, I'll remember it. If I don't write it down, I'm not committed. I also love my bigger visual to-do list with the main projects I want to complete this year. 

Of the 21 items on the list last week, I think 6 were not completed. But that's OK. I rolled them over to this week, and there are only 12 items on the list. 

By the way, that big quilt with the double-wide Minky backing? It's now loaded on the long arm, and I'll get to it today or tomorrow. 

I have to laugh because I started to burn my Christmas pie candle, and I can definitely say that yesterday I was burning the candle at three ends as I attempted to use the long arm, the embroidery machine, and the sewing machine at the same time! 

My Christmas Pie candle

That is always a challenge because one or the other needs attention, like a new bobbin, trim fabric, or whatever. 

Once I had finished tidying up, I put some items on the cutting table to work on today. My Scan n Cut fabric cutting mat needed to be cleaned. After cutting all that foam, it wasn't very sticky. I had attempted to clean it with non-alcoholic baby wipes, but it was still unusable. I was going to use a glue stick to restick it, but the girls suggested I get the LA Totally Awesome out and use that instead. OH MY GOSH -- with mere minutes that mat was super sticky again! There was so much lint and fuzz from the foam! What a TOTALY AWESOME product. You can only buy it at Dollar Tree. And so that mat lives to see another cutting session!

Using LA Totally Awesome to clean my digital cutting mat

Spin class was canceled this morning because the gym didn't open until 6 AM. That would allow the equipment to clear the parking lot. And I don't mind, I got my exercise from shoveling. Now that all the sidewalks are also clear, it's going to be easy to walk the dogs. I think we might bypass the forest this morning - the snow is DEEP. We had record snowfall, with 40-50 cm. For those who understand inches better, like me, that is 15 to 20 inches! Yikes! At least it was light and fluffy, but it was a challenge to shovel because it was also very granular, so unless you threw it OVER the snow bank, it had a tendency to fall back down into the driveway. Not very productive shoveling at times!

I did a little bit of decluttering, but there were other things on my plate, so the decluttering will have to wait another day. No big deal! I got this! 

Today is Monday sewing, and I have a bunch of small projects I'd love to clear up, so that's on the agenda. 

On that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day and be safe!!!

Ciao!!!

List making is fun!

I love lists! Lists make me feel in control! This little apple did not fall far from the tree. My mom keeps tons of information, but most of it is useless, like tracking the amount that the telethon (they still have those out west) raised over the last 50 years. Now, that's a list I can do without! However, I have to say that having a list like that and keeping track of it for 50 years is a feat! 

My most extensive lists are book-related! 

Back in the day, and I could not find an exact date, there was a website called FictFact. You could keep track of the various book series you were reading and check off the ones you had read. Then, it would spit out a list of the books next in line for each series. It was a beautiful reading list and made knowing what book to read next easy. 

Sadly, that site closed down when the big names started taking over the book world. FictFact also shut down, as I suspect licensing the information from the big guys became too costly. I miss that website terribly, but I printed a list of the next-in-line titles before they went. 

I've hung onto that list for a number of years, but I figured it was time to deal with it. So I started with Page One, checked the books I had read, and crossed them off. I made a list of the next in a series I have not read yet and indicated where the book is located—Hoopla, Libby, my shelf, or to be added to the shopping list for used books. 

And then, because the information was handwritten on that FictFact list, I made another list of the books I own in the various series. 

So now I have three book lists: one for the next-in-line books to read in a series, one for the series books I own, and one for missing books not available at any online library sources. I only own some books in a series because they are no longer available at the library. 

Of course, there are the books I've read, and I have two different websites to track that information. One tracks only novels (my choice), and the other tracks everything. 

I only went through one page of the FictFact list, and there are six more to go! Yes -- I love reading book series! 

Page one of the FictFact list

It did NOT take much time to sort through that, and it will make it much easier to find the next book to read in a series. When I want to find the next book in a series to read, I have to check my read lists to see the last book I read. I read so many series, and I may only read a book from a series once a year or once every two years, so I need a list. Then I check on another website, which is the next book in that series. Then I go to my shelf to see if I have that one. If not, I must check the library resources to see if one is available. It is not an easy process, which is why FictFact was so perfect! 

But there is a workaround for everything. Too much trouble, you say? Nothing is too much trouble if you believe in it and it works for you! When you are passionate about something, nothing is work! So it takes a bit of time, but now that I have my personal list, at least the unread books from the FictFact list, finding a book to read will be easier! 

And yes, once I was finished with that page, I put it in the recycling. There is no need to keep useless paper. Of the 17 books on the first page, there were five I had not yet read, so they are on the new list, along with where to find them. I had better read those quickly, as some books I had marked as in the library are no longer in the library! 

I'm pretty excited, and it's nice to have some downtime to do some "fun" paperwork. No - I did not do any real paperwork yesterday, but I'll try to make that happen today! 

I noticed a tree at the end of our street is in bloom, which seems a bit early. But I guess not, as I see crocuses, tulips, and daffodils pushing up through the ground. Soon, the REAL spring will be here. 

A tree in bloom

Here's a role reversal at our house. I caved and moved that second half of the couch back so Murphy could have a couch bed, just like Lexi. DH says, "I thought you bought the chairs to remove the sofa." I did, but the dogs? They need to be part of the family! 

The girls 

We watched a movie last night, and I LOVE the new chairs. They are pretty comfy with the adjustable positions, and I was as snug as a bug with my quilt. I like action movies, but sadly, this was a disturbing movie, almost an action farce, and I didn't enjoy it. However, I stayed there as promised. Lexi seems excited by the blue lights at the bottom of the chairs! She was hovering around trying to figure out what they are and she is NOT a curious dog. 

Now I know why I don't watch many movies and certainly not TV. What a total waste of time, and if this is called entertainment? I'm speechless. 

We had our Chatsworth class yesterday, and here are my blocks so far. 

There are twelve big blocks and twelve flying geese units. All the big blocks are done! And I think nine or ten of the flying geese units are done. Could I be so bold as to say they will be all done by the end of today? I did some sewing yesterday, and it was fun to get back into it. I needed the inspiration of the class to get moving again. 

I have two more presentations this morning, and the rest of the afternoon is mine! I have 50 pages in a novel to finish, so it can be returned to the library, which I'll do right after the presentations. Then I'll be back at the sewing machine. 

I have my silly pill to take when I take my vitamins later this morning. My doctor thinks I'm going insane as she actually asked me if I "forget" to take the pill, as in losing my memory. Good grief --- NO. I'm just not a pill taker. I called the office to renew the other day, and the receptionist said NO - I needed to come in. 

My MRI is this coming week, and I dreamt last night that I missed the appointment. Good grief - I don't want to miss it! I have good days and bad days with the leg. But I'm not about to let it change my life until I can't handle it any longer. Thankfully, the acute pain is gone, but the dead feeling in that leg is not fun, and I would never trust myself to run as I feel that leg would give out at any time. It's so weird, and hopefully, the MRI will provide an answer. 

I strongly suspect they will find bulging disks, which is not what I want to hear, but at least we would know what the problem is and hopefully how to "cure" it or at least do something to improve it. I will say the increased exercise and stretching have helped enormously with the issue. And my mobility is fantastic! My muscles are still extremely tight—like guitar strings! So I must keep working on that, and I need to stretch more. 

And on that happy note, I'm off to walk the girls! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

DONE but not finished

So -- the good news is that the first custom quilt is off the long arm. It's trimmed, and I added the binding this morning. The hanging sleeve is pinned on, and while I'm on a call this morning, I'll hand stitch it in place. I don't want to tempt fate with the UPS shipping, so I will take it to the UPS store this afternoon and get this one on its way. 

It turned out pretty well, and it was only ¼" out on the bottom, which is a pretty good feat considering this is my first time being so super precise. I mean, it's pretty bad when you are trying to keep within 1/8" tolerances between patterns. It's not perfect, but it's the best I can do at this point. 

The second custom quilt is loaded, and while it will have its challenges, it will be a breeze compared to the last one. Should I even say that out loud? Which is good since I need to have it in a box by Friday. Nothing like cutting this one a bit close, but it took way longer than I expected to do the first one. 

OK -- I have no idea what's wrong with those bananas, but they are still pretty green this morning. A bit more flavor, but not like a regular banana. Hmmm -- what's going on? 

Despite the cold and the deadline pressure, I still got out for my walks yesterday. It was a two-pair of pant day in the morning, and I dug out a heavier jacket, and I was toasty warm. The girls couldn't have cared - I don't think either of them even noticed the cold. WOW -- I just checked, and I walked 13.3 KM yesterday. How did that happen? Considering that I was on conference calls for 4.5 hours, that's remarkable!

This morning, I had a few spare minutes and grabbed a couple more things sitting on the floor from the closet. I found a piece of chocolate-colored brown canvas. OK -- my supply of canvas is building! Don't tell Katheleen! 

A large piece of canvas

And there was a hunk of this shiny vinyl. Well, it's soft and pliable, so I think it's more like a pleather. But that would be cool to experiment on with machine embroidery. 

A piece of shiny pleather

And a container with two panels and three fat quarters - no pattern. I see a trend here -- I've bought a grouping of fabrics because I liked it but never found anything to do with it. NO MORE buying fabric just because! 

A grouping of fat quarters

I also found a partial bolt of solid black. Why was it in the closet? No idea, so it went with the other bolts of fabric. 

I'm tempted to throw everything back in the closet to get it out of the way. But if I putter and tidy up three things every day  - I could get through it. I MUST make that a priority. I'm good at starting the tidying up process, not so good with finishing it up. 

But at this rate, the list of UFOs that I thought I had is diminishing! And that is good news. However, it will be many years before the UFOs will be done! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though, and that's a positive. 

I haven't had a chance to chat about my lists this year. I'm a big fan of lists, as I think they help us stay on track, and more importantly, things don't get left behind or forgotten. 

Here are some places where I think lists are essential. Did you notice I made a "list" of this? 

1. Any time you put multiple things into a large tub. Make a list of what's in the tub so you can easily find what's in there. This is especially important if you have a lot of things in the same container. Now -- if your tub is filled with Christmas ornaments, it probably doesn't make sense to list each item. But if you have several tubs of Christmas ornaments, you should specify which type is in which box to quickly find something specific. That's what I've done with my quilt tops. I have enough to sort them by type or style or ones I want to keep. I put the quilt tops (with the binding and the backing) into a tub, and I listed each quilt (so I knew what it was). The tubs are numbered and correspond to the list. All the lists are in a book that sits next to the tubs. It's now super easy to find ANY quilt top in the "to be quilted" pile. 
2. A list of UFOs. Now, this could be a complete list of the UFOs or just those on the priority list. In my case, I keep the priority ones on the list. Actually, I add 12 new ones to the list each year. I started in 2017. That list of 12 UFOS is now complete, as is the list for 2018. There are still 5 projects on the list for 2019, 9 for 2020, 12 for 2021 (oops), and of course, 12 new ones for 2022. I know --- you are asking why I continue to add when I'm not done with the previous lists. Well, it's a way to keep on pushing. There are a lot, and I won't have the push if I don't do this. This past year, the ones I worked on were HUGE projects, and I got bogged down. The ones on the list for 2021 are small and could quickly be done, so they will be the focus this year. And one day, I might just get ambitious and list all of them in one master list. NO -- I'm not going to do that. But I do need to cull out the projects that I will never make, and that's what I'm doing in the closet. I've found tons of stuff set aside, but for what? That goes in the stash. 
3. This is Mary's idea -- a list of 22 things for 2022. This is a list of small things that can be completed very quickly. While they are a UFO, they are small and could be finished in an afternoon. I'm making a list as I go through the closet, my retreat bag, and stuff on the current projects table. I'm at 15 items so far, but I don't think it'll be hard to find another 7 small projects. It would be great to work on those at the Virtual Retreat or take them to the actual sewing retreats. But the point is -- they need to get finished and leave the big projects for the real UFO list. 
4. Lists of where you have stored projects. Like what I'm doing for the closet. And this is pretty inclusive -- shelf one - list the projects, shelf two - list the projects. Once the boxes are labeled, it'll be super easy to scan the shelves and find exactly what you're looking for. NO more lost projects. 

So that's what I keep for lists. OH -- they need to be updated once you move things or finish something, and that's very important! Once I get finished, I will put them all in the folder where I keep the "to be quilted" lists. A little bit more work is required, but once that's done -- I'll never lose anything again!

Here are a couple more photos from Gail's sewing room. Well, I'm not sure what's under all that, but it looks like a cutting table. AHA -- can you spot the labeler? I tell you ALL quilters need a label maker!

Where's the cutting table?

And now it looks a lot neater and tidier!! I love those plastic drawer units beneath the table. You can store a LOT of stuff in them. She has a Lazy Susan for pens, scissors, and other tools and a cake stand to hold other stuff! It's a big table, she has the room!

Much easier to work on!

Here's a neat idea. This little trolley is from IKEA. It has wheels, so it can be moved around, which is excellent. It's like a crash cart for sewists! You can have all the tools you regularly use in there and move the trolley from space to space. She has also put some pegboards on the side for extra storage, and it looks like she's added a tray on top to get another flat surface. Looks pretty versatile!!!!

A crash cart for quilter's

And she has a pull-out tray on her sewing table, so she can put a cutting mat there. 

Pull out tray on the sewing table

Wow -- so many good ideas!!! I think I have one more set of pictures for tomorrow. If you have a great idea or sewing room hack, don't forget to send it to me. elainetheriault@gmail.com 

 

Now that we've been at this for almost two weeks, what's the condition of your space? I don't care if it's messy because you are currently working on something, and it's OK if it's messy if you still cleaning (like me), but if you put stuff away and it's messy all over again -- why is that? Working on too many projects at once (GUILTY), or didn't put something away -- try to identify the problem area and brainstorm ways to prevent that from happening. 

Now you should start to focus on smaller things. Rotary cutting supplies -- cutters and blades. Are they all together? Why not? Marking tools -- extra ones and those currently in use. Are they all together? Why not? So that is the task for today. I find that those supplies fit nicely into those plastic drawer sets. OH -- and while you're going through the marking tools, test the ones that are "in current use." Do they still work? If not, toss them and open a new one or put it on your shopping list. 

I did two good deeds yesterday. Well, one was for my sanity. The neighbor's gate no longer latches properly, and in the wind, it just bangs and bangs LOUDLY. The dogs go crazy. So I got a bungee cord and secured it shut! The parents have moved to Asia (pre-COVID), leaving their young adult son alone in the house. Well, I think he has a girlfriend now, but he doesn't take care of the house. Now it's super quiet when the wind blows. 

The second thing was when I walked past that house under repair (the one with the missing shingles), a man drove up in a van from a restoration company. I think I threw him for a loop when I asked if he was associated with the house. He didn't know how to answer. I helped by saying that shingles blew off the roof over a month ago. No one knew. So now they have been alerted! My good deed of the day, but the work has stopped on the house after they rebuilt the roof, and there was NO ONE to tell what had happened. Now they know. Whether they do anything about it is no longer my problem. 

And on that note, I'm out of here. What a difference 24 hours can make. The temperature is 20 degrees (Celcius) warmer today than it was at this time yesterday. That just doesn't make sense! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!