What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Oh gosh—I messed up that link again!!! I went back and fixed it. I try to be very aware when copying links, but I don't remember having to be this careful. Sigh. So here are two more of the 50 Ways to Keep a Quilter (and her family) Happy While on Vacation! Enjoy!!!!

Here is that one again, so you don't have to return to yesterday's post. 

And here is the series's next one (37, 36, 35, 34). 

Hopefully, both work! I double-checked that the https:/ was included in the link, but it seems to ...

 AHA -- we have it from a produce manager that bananas come in the box in bunches, NOT singles. So, can you tell me why people remove one banana from the bunch and leave it behind? If I were a produce manager, that would drive me BANANAS. I would stand there and watch the consumer and then ask them why they did that. If you want five bananas, pick up a bunch with five; don't pick up one with six and remove one. That's just silly. I still think the grocery store should give us a discount on those ...

Oh my -- I need to get back to answering your comments. So many great ideas -- thanks for all of them. Maybe I'll get back to a few today. 

Yesterday, I gave two more presentations. This time, our format is 90 minutes, not 60, and that extra 30 minutes is tough. No, it's not tough, but I'm so used to a 60-minute format that it's just a question of getting used to it. Plus, I open my calls 30 minutes in advance, so each call is now 2 hours. No bathroom break, so I have to watch ...

Before I get into today, I want to clarify one point. In all the decluttering, I have perhaps "strongly" advised everyone to stop buying, which is undeniably true. 

Here's the thing—we live in a bizarre world where our wants are dictated by marketing people, who are motivated by CEOs who want more profit on the bottom line. This goes for any industry. Did you know that marketing and research people intentionally make products that appeal to our want mentality? 

We have wants that must be fulfilled, so we buy, buy, buy. Sometimes, we buy and bring home a ...

 As I prepared to take the girls for their morning walk, I contemplated how to dress. The temperature was minus 19, with a wind chill of minus 26 or something like that. I'm pretty good for my head (a Tilley hat is the best, although it should probably be replaced as the ear flaps are stretched), but the tightly wound scarf keeps that all in check; my recycled pop-bottle coat is toasty warm, but what about my legs? 

Then I remembered some wind pants in the closet and checked them out. Good grief - there were TWO pairs of pants ...

GASP ---- I cannot give up Outlook! As a matter of fact, since I did all that switching of files around, the darn thing has synced just fine. I'm not sure what all that was about. 

Old habits die hard, and I've been using Outlook for years. Yes, I could go directly to the server to get those emails, but I like how Outlook works. Yet, I use Samsung Mail on my phone. It acts differently, so I can never find anything in my phone email, especially if it's in a folder. I hate responding to emails on ...

This morning, I made a list of everything that needs to be done this week. Hmm—there's not much time for sleeping, so I'll have to be efficient with my time! However, there are two things that I will not skip: writing the blog and going for that afternoon walk! 

Did you notice that both of those things involve ME time? Yes, even though I might give up some ME time in other areas, these two will always happen—unless there's a significant issue! 

Both of these are for my mental health. And when I say mental ...

I'm pleased to report that things are going well! 

My leg is not out of the woods, but the X-ray and the ultrasound show everything is OK, as we figured they would. I've requested that I get on the list for an MRI. I was going to see if I could get it done quicker, but since the acute pain is gone (thank goodness), I'm not in too much of a rush. 

I attribute the change in pain level to the stretching Brooke is "making" me do at the gym. I suspect that as I'm aging ...

Oh boy, so I went to Diane's house yesterday. I had never been in her sewing room before and had no idea what to expect. However, I have known Diane for many years and have learned some of her habits. She always finishes things. I have never heard her talk about a UFO in my life! She was very organized. But having worked in a quilt store for many years, what came home with her? 

It was a quick walk through the forest to her house. The temperature was great, and there were big fluffy flakes of snow, and ...

I don't think any birds will be visiting my suet feeder today. It's windy, like mad outside, and there's a wind chill! Yeah, I can hardly wait to take the girls for their walk! I'll be bundling up for sure. Thankfully, I do not need to go anywhere once the girls are walked. I have one Zoom class this evening, so I can stay indoors!

Speaking of email woes, this one is a doozy! We have a monitored alarm in our house, which I absolutely hate. If it weren't for insurance, it would NOT be ...

When I left last week, my desk was pretty clear. Now, it looks like a disaster. It's not even old paper - it's new stuff that landed on my desk that I must deal with. There are even two piles on the floor. ACK!!! OK - some of it is older stuff I found as I'm clearing the class folder I took to the retreat. We had Monday sewing yesterday, so there was no time to deal with it, but this morning, I plan to attack this paper and get it off the desk. 

Some of it is stuff ...

I counted the number of flannel quilt tops in that bag—25! To be fair, some of them are relatively small as they were made for children. But still! And I forgot to mention that I have a few bolts (5?) of flannel fabric that has to be used up! So yes, 2025 is the year of eliminating flannel from Studio B. WAIT—I also have a large flannel kit. That should be added to the mix. I wonder if there are more flannel kits? 

I'm happy to report that another flannel quilt from the 2024 pile is loaded ...

I am whispering this so as not to appear to be gloating, and I certainly do NOT want to jinx myself. I managed to stay in bed until it was time to get up! I woke up a couple of times but was able to get back to sleep. Yes, there is still pain while lying down, but I've found a way to sleep by putting a pillow under my leg to elevate it slightly. YES - I tried that before, but it did nothing at the time. I can only say that waking up with a good night's ...

Well, I will have to put my money where my mouth is because I have a situation that needs to be addressed soon, which involves decluttering. 

Remember I said there were a couple more containers on the floor in the office? They hide behind my recycling and garbage can, so they often get forgotten. 

The junk containers hiding behind the garbage

Three containers full of what?

What's in those bags?

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 ...