What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

There is one area of my life that won't get cluttered with digital stuff, and that's Zoom. I think I have 5 GB of "free" storage, enough to store a month's worth of video recordings—about 12 hours or something like that. I get emails from Zoom if the account is getting close to full. Do I want to buy storage? No, and then I go in and delete the older videos! Yeah, me! One area that will never become cluttered! They will shut down the ability to record if you go over! Or so they say ...

The Heartfelt Sampler class is done! We started it in October and completed it right on time! I had seen the quilt somewhere online. The quilt was designed by a local quilter. She originally made the quilt for herself, which was displayed at a local quilt show. So many people asked for the pattern that she put together a pattern, which you can buy on her Etsy Shop. She also designed a mini version for those who did not want to make so many blocks!

Here is Sandy's original quilt. Yes, I screen-captured that from the Etsy website! Notice ...

It's our show-and-tell for The Heartfelt Sampler, and I really wanted to have my quilt top done. I have the presentation ready to go for this morning. All I can say is—you have to wait to see what I accomplished. There is one thing I'll say—overall, I'm happy with the results, but there is definitely room for improvement. So, guess what? I'm down a new learning path! Or should I say REFINING the knowledge that I have. 

The girls don't know it yet, but I'm sacrificing some of their walk time this ...

OMG --- For real, I'm back! So much to say today!

I have to tell you about this strange phone call I got. I was about to call someone in a different area code when I received a call from that area code. It wasn't the store I was about to call—it was neither of the two stores in that same area code that I needed to contact. There was no name, and although it said "verified number," I didn't answer. 

Funny enough, I received a voicemail, so I listened to it. "Hey Muhammed, I was hoping ...

I'm back!!! I finally had a proper sleep within the right time frame, meaning I got to sew this morning. Does it feel strange? It's totally weird! Let's hope that things are back on track because I have lots that I want to do. 

I hope not to offend anyone with this next sentence, so forgive me if I do. WAIT -- before I say that, let's say this has happened to all of us! Most of us anyway! But hopefully, after the first time, it will never happen again. 

That is the text message (or e-mail ...

OK, so I caved and binge-watched all the episodes of that romance scam. Then, I started to do some research. OH MY GOSH --- you would not believe it, but the amount of money involved in romance scams is HUGE!!!! I believe this statistic is worldwide to the tune of $1.3 billion (involving 70,000 people). That was in 2022, and the numbers are probably much higher. And that is of the people who came forward. How many others did not? 

This is just for romance scams, not any of the other types of fraud. It is big business for ...

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'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 ...

 I am ANNOYED!!! And I'm annoyed at myself! 

I'm trying to get organized for the events over the next couple of weeks. The first one is tonight. So I'm organizing the samples, and I'm missing ONE. Actually, I'm missing a couple of samples. Now, thankfully, both of them are small and would take very little time to redo. It's the principle of the matter. I had one in my hand last week, and I swear I left it on the table. 

I've been searching for it, and nothing!! Thankfully, I had it in ...

 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 ...

Tammy hit the jackpot!!! She got both quilts right!!! 

Here are the two quilts that I'm contemplating teaching in the fall. Now, I'll only teach one or the other, but not both - at least not simultaneously. I'm crazy, but not that crazy. 

I have a few votes for one and some for the other - if you have comments, you can email me or comment on the blog. elainetheriault@gmail.com

Look who I spotted on the morning walk. Yep, after all that rain the night before, there were worms and a snail on the sidewalk! It seems ...

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 ...

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 ...

So this morning is Sunday - right? And what am I supposed to do on Sunday when I get up? I'm supposed to take a pill. I've been sitting at my computer for almost two hours and staring at the monitor. Right in front of the monitor is a pill bottle with an ORANGE sticky label on it - marked Sunday. I never saw it until I was ready to make breakfast. Sigh.................. I think I  need a reminder on my phone because otherwise, it will never happen. 

OK, I did it. I've set a weekly reminder for 5 ...

I'm comforted knowing that I'm not alone in this decluttering journey! How is it possible that we've allowed ourselves to accumulate so much clutter - physical things or digital assets. Oh well --- we'll get through it!

No one will care a single thing about my computer once I'm gone. No one would dig through those photos, and no one would need or want my old email. I only do this to make room for MORE on my computer and make it easier to find what I have! Then perhaps I could actually do stuff with my ...

I am jumping over the moon right now! Can you see me? I have had a slight issue with a software program (not Outlook - believe it or not!) that has been bugging me. What is wrong? Or better yet -- what AM I DOING WRONG? 

We discussed the issue at Monday sewing, and I've learned there's a workaround or at least a different way. But this function HAS to work. Then I left it as I had to get stuff prepped for an embroidery software class. This morning, both things got niggling in my head as I loaded a ...

I had packed most things in the car the night before, so there was very little to pack in the morning. The girls and the boy were NOT happy to see me packing. They knew that there would be NO walks this week. Oh dear, I'd bring them if I could, but it's impossible. They'll survive, as DH is there to put them out. I'm sure they all love that arrangement. 

The roads were good, which is quite different from two years ago! We couldn't even get out of the driveway on the way to ...