What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I know that I shouldn't be reading all these old magazines. I'm above that - toss them and be done with it. Buy no more than you can read. However, I have to say that I LOVE reading them. They are almost more entertaining than reading the current ones, which tend to be filled with patterns I'll never make. 

Here's what I learned from a quilting magazine that is over 25 years old! The magazine is called Sampler Quilts by Quilt and has a copyright date 1999. 

Sampler Quilt magazine

Didn't everyone make a sampler quilt ...

It warms my heart to know that I am not alone! Boxes and bags of stuff are being donated to various organizations nationwide. We will conquer this mess we've created, but we must be mindful not to let it happen again. Slow and steady is all I can say. 

Let's not forget to keep celebrating those little steps. Maybe it's one magazine that got tossed, or perhaps it's a book that you donated. It all counts. What's most important is that as you start to let go, the more you want to let go. 

I ...

 Are you moving during the day? I confess I did something I hadn't done for a long time yesterday: I read almost an entire book in one day. However, I can no longer sit in a comfy chair for long with this silly leg issue. By comfy, I mean the chairs in our living room. Even stretched out, they don't work. Although I sat there long enough to attract the girls, and they put on a show for me. 

MOM - can you see us?

Excellent news this morning! Yesterday was the winter solstice, meaning the sun rises a little earlier each day! I also have to be thankful that I live south of where my parents live, so the sun rises earlier than in Saskatchewan!

While I had "stuff" to do yesterday, I took the day off and sewed all day! I'm working on my UFO, which is due tomorrow, but despite having a specific goal, I'm doing something else—the same project but another part. You'll see it after I show it to the group tomorrow. All I can say ...

Do NOT YELL at me, but I fail miserably at ergonomics at my house, especially in the office. Hence my poor posture, which was never good, and whatever other ailments that brings. 

What happened? Well, you know I have this silly pain in my leg, and sitting on a hard chair is a tad uncomfortable. I've been good on my sewing chair in Studio B because it's somewhat cushy. But my office chair is not too well padded. Last night I hauled a comfy chair from Studio B to the office, and well, I'm embarrassed to say ...

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 ...

As much as it was nice to be away and sew with friends, it's nice to be home and get back into the routine! 

The Zooms went well, and there was lots of great show-and-tell, some of which I'll share later this week. Then, it was back to cleaning up the stuff. 

I still had all this that needed to be put away. Again, it was slow and methodical. It's not enough to just shove it on a shelf. A lot of stuff needs to be dealt with, and if I don't do it properly, I ...

Thanks for the vote of confidence on my split 9-patch! I'm going to cut more strips and continue! 

The last day of the retreat is always sad because everyone has to go home. But it's also exciting because you get to come home, unpack, and see everything you did! 

Before I came home, I was determined to go through that bag of Oh Canada scraps and sort it out. This is what happened. 

I found several bags with pieces from various projects, but it was a hodgepodge. I unsewed any pieces that were sewn together. I also found ...

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 ...

While not much was done in the decluttering world yesterday, I still have lots to share about the previous day. 

I spent a good part of yesterday writing a blog post. The subject matter was easy, but I struggled with it. It's one thing to pop off some writing that is just fluff - like in this blog. But when it comes to something a bit more technical, it needs to be written so it's straightforward and easy for others to understand. 

So I ran up and down the stairs to double-check facts on the sewing machine, and I ...

I'm going to have to change my blog from quilt-focused to decluttering-focused. 

I'm obsessed and can't open any drawer or door without looking at the contents and thinking I need to get rid of something. And if you do little bits at a time, it takes little time. 

So, while I prepped and wrote, I spent the morning doing something else. I've already been up very early and made some exciting changes in the office, which you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see as there's too much already for today. 

But let's ...

OK—I'll try to stop talking about the decluttering thing in the blog for a bit. But seriously, you won't turn back once you get the hang of how this works. I opened the pantry in the kitchen when I had a few moments waiting for lunch to heat up. We store the dog supplies in there. It wasn't quite tidy enough for me, so I spent a mere five minutes, and now it looks like this. Did you notice the partially empty shelf? If we didn't have dogs, this would be EMPTY!

The dog supplies ...

 Two more Zooms are done! Sometimes, the weekends can get crazy, and I don't feel like doing much when the classes are over. So, instead of working as I should have, I lazed around yesterday afternoon and went to the mall to run some errands!

Something bizarre happened in our house last night. Murphy and Lexi got into a fight, and blood was drawn. I knew something was up when Lexi was skulking in the kitchen, and Murphy was hanging around for some reason. Before I knew it, an attack! I know Murphy is very jealous and is highly ...

Thanks for all those fantastic comments and suggestions!! I guess I could safely say that the art of decluttering has now become a daily routine in my life! I'm excited about that, but I'd rather spend the time sewing. However, the new "clean" house makes me want to do more, so getting rid of the junk is very positive. 

I had some work to do in the office, and I actually had an OPEN flat surface upon which to do that work. The surface is nice and clear this morning, but it was a euphoric moment to know ...

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 ...

Thanks for the comments yesterday. I'm surprised there were not more that roasted me for being "harsh." I get it that some people absolutely adore decorating for any holiday, making meals, etc. And I'm totally for that. But when it comes to the point that you shut everything else down for a month? That's a bit much! What about if you need a storage unit for your decorations? I guess we all have our priorities!

Again, I'm not against giving money as a gift, but I'm not fond of it when you don't know ...

Well, it appears that another friend has those open earbuds. I need to encourage my friends to tell me about NEW things when they get them! I'm behind the times. I wore them for the four hours of Monday sewing, and I thought I might be bothered a bit by the band at the back, but all was good. They were very comfortable - they could hear me well, I could listen to them, and I could move around the house without losing the connection. YEP -- I'm glad I bought them. 

DH will be testing mine out today. He ...

Good progress was made yesterday with the presentations and the sewing! Yeah! It will be a busy day again today, but I think I might just make it! It was an interesting day as I snapped pictures and put them in the presentation. Then, I received pictures from people that needed to be added to the presentations. I hope I got them all in the correct place! If not - well, we can laugh about it. 

OK—you have to check out this video! When I was at Golden Peak Media Studios to film a couple of Fons and Porter's ...

Oh gosh!!! Continuing yesterday's theme, another crazy thing happened so quickly that I barely had time to register it! 

Several days ago, we discussed the surround sound system in the family room. I hate it, as four speakers and the subwoofer are all on the floor. It's ugly and takes up visual space, and I wanted it gone years ago. Of course, now there are sound bars that do the same thing. They look neater, and well, I think we need one. 

Two days ago, we talked about a specific brand. Last night at dinner, DH forwarded me ...

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 ...