What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I got rid of more CDs/DVDs yesterday. A few more have made it onto the desk to be looked at this morning, including a new box of 10 CDs that's not even opened. So that will be easy to cope with. Everything fits into one container now, which is good news. I'll just keep whittling those down until I get to the end. You can't imagine how exciting this is! 

I went to spin class yesterday and had a great workout, but I have to say that I got more UP feelings (those endorphins) from tossing ...

OK—so what do you do when the book you're listening to is depressing? The book is "When the World Fell Silent," by Donna Jones Alward, and it is about the Halifax explosion (1917) when they were in the midst of a war. I totally get that times were tough. Many people died in the war, the explosion, and the Spanish flu. It just seemed that the two women in the book were saddled with EVERY possible calamity. Even the prologue foreshadowed terrible things. 

I hate abandoning a book, so I persevered. I'm now down to one hour ...

Hopefully, some of you visited the Libby app to check if your local library has quilt magazines. We've had them for quite a while, but I like the paper copy. However, I'm going to change my mindset on that. Besides, Libby will alert me when a new issue comes up. It's all very civilized, but we all know that change is challenging, and I must let myself go with the flow! 

If Libby doesn't have them, check if your library has Hoopla. Often, magazines are also available from that app. Digital has many advantages, and it ...

I see no one dared to comment on that quilt pattern! It really is in the eye of the beholder what the "correct" way to place those ribbons is. The fact that we are different is what makes the world go round, even if we don't always agree. 

The same is true for a directional print on the border of a quilt—do you turn the border upside down?

I hope you had a chance to check out the classes that I posted yesterday. You have time to think about what you want to learn, and we should always ...

 Let's start with the classes before I get lost in my thoughts!!! 

There are TWO more classes at The Hobby Horse, so I will post that link again. There are the October to June monthly one-hour lectures on finishing your quilt. There is so much to share in that! And there are FOUR in-person sessions—two of them are on machine quilting, and two of them are demos on various topics. Angie and I will be doing those two sessions as a team. It will be super fun, a chance for you to get out of the house and ...

One final word on doing things alone. It's not that I don't have friends - I have friends and acquaintances I could call on to do some things. It's not that I couldn't drag DH along, but here's the thing. We need to learn to live with ourselves and FOR ourselves. When we are alone - how do we handle a crisis? How do we handle the good times when we have no one to share our victories with? How do we handle the mundane things that happen every day? If we don't know how to ...

Sometimes, I get asked how I do so much in a day. There are a couple of reasons:

1. I don't watch TV and try to keep my screen time (Facebook and Instagram) to an absolute minimum. 30 minutes daily is a good goal because it's a massive time waster. I don't do Pinterest, which I've heard is a black hole. I'm also highly selective about what I stream and attempt to avoid clickbait at all costs. That is clutter for the mind—I no longer cope with clutter. 
2. I can start work the minute I ...

What are they doing to my forest? OK, so it's a woodlot, not an endless forest, but I call it my forest—it sounds more impressive! There are a number of entrances to the forest from the sidewalks surrounding it. Since we have lived here, all but one of the entrances has had a paved path for a brief distance into the forest. In all cases, the pavement has prevented erosion on the trails (small hills), which has been good. 

You've heard me mention the erosion. That has only been in the last five years? And I swear ...

What did I say about getting three things done in a day? Despite having good intentions, I only accomplished three things and not all of what I wanted to do! I finished a few projects on Mount Projects, but I'll share those tomorrow. They were needed for the machine embroidery class this morning. 

A customer quilt was also finished, and all quilts have been trimmed! 

Customer quilt - DONE

The third thing I did wasn't on my list, but it was a task that needed to be done. I'll be away for a few days at a quilt ...

I had to chuckle as I went to bed last night. Someone sent me this in the morning, and that's how my day went!

I needed a picture of a package of needles, so I dug out my bag of needles. 

A mess of needles

The needles are ...

Instead of putting the group of decluttering books into the donate pile, I decided to read one. I should be finishing a library book. I should have read this book ten years ago when I bought it! 

I'm past some topics—like career goals. I don't have a career—I have my quilting—but I know where I'm going. I just need to pick a date to retire! I don't want to get bigger or better—continuing the way I am is fine. 

But there was a section about email. OK, I know I have a ...

Some days, I sit down here and wonder where to start. It's not that rocket science is being done at my house, but sometimes, the slow and steady process of getting rid of more stuff just blows my mind. 

So, you are NOT allowed to judge me based on what I'm going to share today. You can talk about me and how crazy I am, but you are not allowed to judge me. What I find entertaining is not what you would find entertaining, and vice versa. 

However, I know what I'm going to do when I ...

Here's a prime example of why that list of ten things I set out to do two days ago is still incomplete. Three items remain on the list. 

We've lived in this house for almost 21 years. Several times a year, we get letters addressed to the previous owners from a utility company. We have an up-to-date account with the utility company. 

For 21 years, I've tossed those letters addressed to the previous owner. When I recently received two, I decided to open them. As I suspected, there was nothing significant in them. But this seems like ...

I was back at the drawer situation in the kitchen. What a long process, but then I'm not dedicating hours at a time. This shows that even a few minutes a day can make a difference in decluttering, especially when you're on the second pass like I am. 

The cutlery was all washed and dried. 

The cutlery was washed and dried

The cutlery tray was washed

Some artists use cutlery in their art, and I wish I knew someone ...

I feel like I'm back in a marathon—there is so much to do, so many time limits and things take longer than planned! 

However, I got a few more things done, but not as much as I would have liked. I'm afraid that today is going to be eaten up with computer work, as I have a lot of emails that need to be sent and that need to be done today. 

I've mentioned missing things from time to time. One thing has been missing for years. It's an embroidery file I purchased many years ...

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 ...

I need to renew my passport which expires in June. I had so much trouble printing out the form -- of course I did! I must have filled the darn thing out 10 times before the stars aligned and the form was printed! So I'll drop it off today. How many hours will I wait? 

I could mail it, but I'd rather know immediately if there is an issue with any part of the application process. 

We had Monday sewing and it's always fun! I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I ...

It was a busy day, but I don't have much to show for it! Unless you want to watch the video of our digital cutter class. Last year, the session was one hour, which never seemed enough. This year, I added 15 minutes. Yesterday, we went almost 30 minutes over that, and I have prided myself on NOT doing that in the past! Sigh!!!! 

But the information and the participation are amazing, so I don't want to NOT do it! It's not that I'm UNAWARE of going over. I'm very aware - I'll have to ...

I didn't think I was going to make it this morning! I mean getting my presentations ready. I went to bed relatively late for me, but I got up when the PILL alarm rang! I notice that's my last one, so I must go to the drugstore to get more. 

But the presentations are ready. Yesterday, I wondered if I had enough content for one of them, but after putting all the pictures together, I wonder if I'll get a chance to talk! This whole business of sharing in the Zoom format is fantastic, and I've ...

In case some of you are getting random responses from me -- I'm trying to catch up on all the comments from the blog! Bear with me -- I should catch up soon!

Somewhere recently, I heard someone say that one of the generations (I don't remember which one, and I'm so confused as to who is whom anyway!) Well, the idea was that you are old if you carry a WALLET! Now, I don't think anyone should generalize about age because of something we carry! For the record, it has been years since I last used a ...