What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I think I'm almost back to normal time, but I'm still tired in the morning, so always a little bit behind; I should be good tomorrow. 

OK—so what's with all the dreaming? The sleep I'm getting is deep because I'm dreaming, which I probably do every night, but I just don't remember the dreams. 

I remember the dreams, and it's weird how it takes events in a day and mixes them up. The last two nights have both been dreams about quilting. A friend mentioned a quilt she was making the other ...

I was WIDE AWAKE at 3:30 and waited patiently for my alarm to ring at 4:30, which it did, and then, well, I just had a good sleep, and now I'm behind! But that's OK. 

I didn't sleep well on the plane for some reason, but that's a story for another day. 

We had to be at the airport at 5 PM, so we had time for another adventure. We decided to drive on the west side of Maui. And we were of the mindset that we could drive entirely around that section, even ...

I never received any training to be a teacher; it seems to come naturally to me, for which I am eternally grateful. I never planned on being a quilt teacher, but the opportunity fell into my lap (thank you, Gail, at the Hobby Horse for believing in me!), and I took to it like a duck to water! 

I also try NOT to DICTATE RULES to my students. I try to create an environment where they feel comfortable asking questions, and I explain why we do something a certain way. If they want to do it differently, that's OK ...

About that shelving - it's still in the garage. At the warehouse, we attempted to release the shelves with a mallet, but the little things that hold the shelves in place are NOT the little black plastic ones I've got on my other shelving. These are sort of rubberized WHITE ones. One of the guys told me in his experience that once these heavy-duty shelves are together, they are NOT coming off. I might try the wood and hammer method, but getting two guys to move it might be faster. I can't deal with it right now, so ...

The Zoom sessions for the "day job" are complete! For the remainder of the year, we'll be doing in-person events, and I have some booked near me! So watch for events at Sew Productive in Milton and Thimbles Quilts and Sewing in Windsor (Lasalle). They are going to be fun and informative, and I've been making NEW samples. 

That leaves one in-person event today (all packed) and two Zooms to prepare for tomorrow. The final writing assignment is almost edited, and I'm doing well. I'm a little behind schedule, but it's doable to complete it ...

I have ONE Zoom left for my day job! My, how time flies when you're having fun! There is lots of stuff to put away, but I don't have time to deal with it today. 

I still have an in-person event this weekend for anyone who has recently purchased a Husqvarna Viking Designer Epic 3, and there are two Zooms on Sunday. All the material is prepared for everything; it's just a question of putting it into a presentation or pulling out the appropriate equipment from the jumble!

Speaking of jumbles, I mentioned that I found a ...

I'm happy to report that NOTHING was running around the neighborhood last night or early this morning. On the wildlife front, all is quiet! Murphy is still sleeping, and we're good!

However, we had issues walking in the morning. Snow was on the ground, and Bear came home covered with mini snowballs on his legs. He wasn't happy, and I had to carry him part way. 

Winter is back with dog snowballs

Is it me, or do the days seem to run into each other quickly? It's not like I don't enjoy the days, but they are going quickly! The good news is that I went to bed last night and slept like a log. I woke up when my alarm went off. And seconds later, Murphy was beyond herself with excitement. I ran to the window to see what caused such a panic, and I spotted THREE raccoons chasing each other. 

That's a new one for me. I've seen them running up trees and waddling across the ...

What???  I can't get enough Vitamin D just by being outside? Oh boy --- I guess I have a lot to learn. One day, I'll get it all figured out! What I need now is a good formula for sleep. For the most part, I'm a good sleeper, but the last two nights have been horrible. I feel like something the cat dragged in. 

While I have loads to do this week, there is loads of time to get it done, so there's no pressure. I only have a few problems that need to be resolved and ...

We had our UFO Club in the morning, and I was one of the few who didn't meet the deadline. That's OK - I'll get it done for next month. I completed part of it, but not enough to say I put in a reasonable effort. I wish I had more time to focus on my UFOs - I'm to the point now where I need this project (Cabin in the Woods X two) off my plate as I'm getting bored with it. OK -- so I am working on applique, which stalls me EVERY time. I like ...

Oh, great scot!!! I had trouble sleeping, so I got up and did some work. Then when I finally went to sleep, I went into a deep sleep, and I'm WAY BEHIND this morning. Why is that? 

There are many other mysteries in this world. Why can't I log into my mySewnet account on my laptop, yet I can log into the account on my other computer and all of my devices? Yep—the world is a mystery, to be sure. 

So here are a few hurried photos, as I have UFO club at 9:15, and I ...

Thanks for your thoughts on mental health! I'm OK, and while I still haven't found those items, and I'm still "frustrated" by a piece of technology that isn't cooperating with me, I'm over that destructive feeling. Thankfully, it doesn't last long, but I wish I could control it. Thankfully, my mind tells me to throw things, but don't break things - like dumping an embroidery machine on the floor! 

Oh my gosh—this is just too cute to pass up. When I walk Lexi in the morning, the other two hop up in bed ...

I am even more annoyed with myself this morning. Well, I'm no longer irritated, but yesterday? I was very annoyed. I was putting together the presser feet I was going to demo in my presentation, and do you think I can find my Open-Toe feet for the PFAFF? They are not to be seen. Then I realized that I was also missing my Quilt Binder. I have two of them, and they are in big purple boxes. 

I'm VERY diligent about keeping all my presser feet in a specific location by brand. I'm anal about it. But ...

Well, I did not find that sample, but that's OK because I made new ones, and they are probably nicer than the old ones! It's still super annoying that I can't find them. They will turn up at one point, but where are they hiding?

I'm a bit strapped for time this morning as I have to be somewhere at 8 a.m., which is prime dog-walking time. So the blog will be short, and the spin class will be short, so I can at least get them outside and fed. When someone offers to do ...

 And so another week begins! They seem to be marching along, and here we are, almost in the middle of March!! I see Murphy and Bear synchronizing their sleep pattern again this morning. They are quite the pair, and Lexi is nowhere to be seen. 

We had a fantastic show-and-tell at our machine embroidery club. The ladies are so talented, and I have to say we are full. I expanded the class length by 15 minutes, and we still ran over just a wee bit, so I can't let anyone else in. 

This is what it looked like behind ...

Yesterday was another one of those days where I accomplished lots, but I don't really have anything to show for it! But my Fitbit Steps? Off the chart!! I've been walking at least 13 km every day for the last week. Some of that is intentional walking with the dogs and my afternoon walk, but also all the running around the house collecting samples, setting up equipment, etc. It's totally insane! However, I have aggressive goals, so I need 11.5 KM every day, so I'm not that much ahead!

There are days when I feel ...

I survived another day! Actually, it wasn't too bad once I got all the equipment set up for the second Zoom call. When the Zoom session is about software, the set-up is easy because everything is on the computer. But when it comes to showing the sewing machines, I need to do a bit more work. This is what it looked like last night behind the scenes. 

Behind the scenes on a Zoom call

I was too far away from my computer for my liking, so I need to rearrange that a bit. It gets tight with tripods and ...

One Zoom down as well as Monday sewing. That leaves TEN more Zooms, one meeting, one in-person session on quilting, and FIVE writing assignments. That's on top of the paperwork that still needs to be done. But there's ZERO need to stress about any of this. What gets done gtes done, the rest will have to wait. However, with careful planning, I expect it will get done - just not completely!

I talked about the Pony Express yesterday, and it runs 24/7!!! I took stock of what had been piling up at my front door. 

These were some ...

Someone suggested I run a defrag on my hard disk. Yes -- that's a good idea, and I must remember to do that. 

What I think I need to do is get myself organized first. I must write down each place where I have storage - how much I pay and what is stored there. There's Googe Drive, One Drive, and soon iCloud. I have Dropbox (which I need to cancel), my external hard disks, and my storage on the two computers. Wait -- there's also the phone and the iPad. Can you see the craziness of all this? And ...

My storage woes are far from being over. Every place I look - Google Drive, One Drive, my laptop -- everything is red-lining! The biggest issue is I need help understanding what is going on. I have files that are sitting on my phone that are also sitting on Google Drive. Some of them do not download when I download from my phone, but I see that I can do that manually on the computer. I best try downloading today and then manually moving what doesn't come automatically. 

And despite deleting many emails, the storage space has not budged. Why is ...