What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

What a whirlwind day! I ran between Zoom and shoveling snow and Zoom. But there is good news—wait for it. 

This was after the first shovel in the morning. This picture was taken around 8 a.m. and the snow was covering up my handiwork as I finished. 

8 a.m.

Noon

Then, there was the shovel session at 3:00 p.m. Each time, it took between 40 - 50 minutes to shovel. Is ...

Well, there's nothing much to discuss this morning except the snow! I didn't want to repeat what happened last week when I had a foot of snow to clear from the driveway, so right after my three Zooms, it was time to grab that shovel. 

And this was what it looked like as I finished Round One. Yes - it was still snowing, so as quickly as I shoveled, the snow fell on the other side. But getting rid of at least that much will help. 

Round One

Just before we started the Virtual Retreat, it was time to ...

Yes -- it's OK to be a Pollyanna. It'll drive those negative Nellies to weep, and that's OK. It's nice to be positive, and I must keep the gentle critique in my back pocket for the next time! So many people are unaware of how they converse and are perceived, and some do NOT come up for air! 

Oh my—I have two of the three presentations ready, and the third won't take long. But the timing is tight! I've got to try a little harder next month so that it doesn't come to ...

An eagle eye spotted something in yesterday's post. Can you believe I wrote, "continue to CLUTTER," not declutter!!! I've since corrected that little error! Thanks for the note!!

I learned something interesting about my neighbors yesterday. Remember how I complain about those who do NOT shovel their sidewalks? Guess why? Because they ONLY use a snow blower, and if there's not enough snow, they don't bother. Those lazy so-and-sos!!!!!! As the street was digging itself out yesterday, EVERY HOUSE that never shovels had their snow blower out. I should have walked to all of them and ...

I should mention that we live on a court, so there's no sidewalk plowing. The street that our street joins is also not cleared by the city. However, the next street over the sidewalk is plowed. It all works out, but it's annoying that homeowners can't do some work. I wonder how I'll get to the plowed sidewalk this morning with the girls. I'm walking on the street, I guess. 

So when I was in BC last year—Penticton and West/North Vancouver, to be exact—I would NOT want to live there if there ...

OK -- we talked about comments the other day and how the power of suggestion, even in your mind, will trigger things. Well, where did this comment come from? 

The mystery of the internet, for sure! 

I have a favor to ask all of you, particularly those who live close to me or are on the Pony Express. You could always send the items via mail, but I don't want people to incur costs. 

A local group of sewists meets at the library several times a month—maybe even once a week—to make medicine dolls. These dolls help hospitalized ...

We all know that the internet is run by algorithms. Perhaps they do not run the internet, but algorithms play a huge part in what we see. You mention one word and BAM—your feeds are full of ads or links to items related to that word. 

Somewhere along the line, I've mentioned various cities, which is enough to trigger random comments on the blog. I deleted over ten comments concerning driver training in a West Coast city this morning. Why? I've never mentioned learning to drive, but it shows up. Or if I want carpet cleaning or ...

Oh dear - Murphy's bone is rawhide! We've never had issues with her, but I've heard horror stories of other things getting stuck in a dog's gut. Hmm -- what are my options - she only seems to like to chew rawhide. Antlers - suitable for a quick chew, but not lasting. She doesn't like them. 

I don't know what her problem is these days, but she is worse than Velcro. You can't sit down without her there, trying to coerce you to pet her. And one hand is NOT enough - it has to be both! Oh ...

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 ...

I'll revisit the pricing issue later this week—there's no time this morning. I'm back home, and there is much to do this week. I must not let that wreak havoc with my schedule! 

The last day of the retreat is always bittersweet. I've been away long enough to create chaos in my work schedule and long enough to ignore it, but at the same time, I want to get home, sort things out, put things away, and give my girls a big hug! 

I'll share as much of that story as possible this morning ...

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 ...

 It was Lexi's lucky day! Not only does she have a new leash, but she got to spend time with her boyfriend Wednesday. 

Lexi and Wednesday

Yes, he is a Husky, and they love each other. The minute they spotted each other, it was like that scene in the movie where the two people ran into each other's arms. Both were running to each other. Of course, they remained on their leashes, but they had so much fun jumping, smelling, and doing what dogs do! 

The biggest issue is that both dogs are friendly. Except that they are ...

OH MY! As I create a folder each day to store the blog photos, I date it. It's January 25 already! Where has the time gone? 

Someone mentioned the stand-up/sit-down exercises. The chair height is important! Obviously, we are NOT doing this from a step stool. If you can do that, then you're still young! But try various chair heights, and as you become comfortable with one height, find something a bit lower. I get it that some of us have knee issues, so the height can't be too low. But how easily can you get ...

 We have a situation in our house. It's not serious if you are human, but it's pretty bad if you have four legs. In the past, our girls were used to being on their own. If one or both of us were gone, they handled it gracefully. Now that we both work from home, we are here for the girls 100% of the time. 

So when DH went away earlier this week, the girls, and Lexi in particular, were NOT happy. 

After the walk, I was taking off my shoes and saw this: Lexi was sitting in front ...

 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 ...

So what happened? A LOT! While my situation is pretty tame compared to the mental health issues that others experience, I can see how debilitating it can be. When I get into one of these states, my productivity goes down, I procrastinate, and I almost make myself sick with the weight of the issue on my shoulders. That gets me into those stressful time crunches. Thankfully, I can dig myself out of a hole, but it might take a long time for that to happen. 

I thought it was timely that this was the message on my Yogi Positive Energy ...

I got a chuckle from Elle's comment. Tiny home living is for those without "space-required" hobbies! Oh my! I did say that I would have all my sewing stuff in another space! What a hoot! But seriously - that should be something everyone needs to be told upfront. If you are going to quilt, you need SPACE. I know some people (Paula Neidlestern comes to mind) sew in tiny spaces, but where do they store stuff? OH - they don't buy a ton of things! 

BTW - Paula lives in a small apartment in New York City. She used to sew ...

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?