What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 need to set up my second bird feeder and install the darn new pole, but there isn't time. Then the birds will come back, and the ones that like the suet will be with them. Thanks to Tammy for keeping me updated on the birds—I'm terrible at knowing who is who! 

But it isn't so much time; it's like I'm in hibernation mode. I've been napping a lot this week. Is it because I'm tired? I'm getting decent sleep, but perhaps not as long as needed. Is it because it ...

I hear you about the paper -- deal with it right away. I try - I really try. But here's what I face. At the retreat, I made a list of things I needed to send to people. The list is half complete. I bought a magazine and wanted to share an article with a colleague - it's still sitting on the desk. I must finish writing some documents - the paper is still on the desk. I must follow up with emails - some of that paper is still on the desk. I got a book from the library to help with ...

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 ...

Oh boy—this paperwork is going to be the death of me! I spent the entire morning at the computer, and I swear the desktop doesn't look cleaner! Emails and phone calls got done, but I don't think any physical paper disappeared. I'll try again this morning, but I also have a lot of sewing/embroidery to do, and I need to be downstairs! 

But any progress is progress, and we just keep moving forward. I tackled a few more CDs, and the pile is almost gone. What did I find? I found three photos that I ...

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 ...

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'm not sure I'm happy with Elle's comment about the flannel bits the other day. She said there are DOZENS of quilts in those scraps, and well, I hope not dozens, but there will be a lot. Slow, steady, and focused will get all that flannel out of my house. 

I pulled the two kits from the shelves and added them to that area. I also found one bolt of flannel fabric, but I'm sure at least four or five more are sitting in the fabric bolt area. So yes, if I were to make tops ...

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've been learning so much about myself and how I function (or don't function). First, while I thought I was managing my stuff well, I wasn't. I was productive, yet I was struggling to meet deadlines. OK, I am productive, but I struggle with paperwork. And there are so many things to do. 

The same is true for my quilting. There are just so many UFOs, kits, and other things. 

I'm learning that focus seems to be a huge factor in making stuff happen. OK, so that's not rocket science at all. But when you ...

I don't want my personal issues to become an ongoing topic on this blog. Let's just say there are good days and bad days. So far, it's been a bad day!

I had to finish editing something this morning, which was way overdue. What does one do? You get creative. I tried sitting down, but I couldn't even edit one sentence without having to walk. So - I have a stand-up desk of sorts in Studio B. 

Holy—that's so different from sitting down, and at times, I felt a bit of relief. The biggest issue ...

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 ...

Thanks for the advice on my issue! Yes, I suspect it's the piriformis muscle as well, and I've sat on my little hot pad so much that that caused another internal issue! We won't go there. I did a bit of stretching, but I need to do more. Much more, but it's pretty painful! 

However, I will say that because I was up and down at the sewing machine yesterday for a good part of the day, it started to feel OK. Standing and walking take the pressure off, and so, while painful, the acute spasming ...

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 ...

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 ...

There is nothing to report about progress in the office except that I did deal with a few things sitting on the floor beside my chair. I must get that pile dealt with before I dig into one of the containers on either the filing cabinet or the desk. I'm excited to tackle one, but I had three Zooms yesterday and two today, and there was a wee bit of prep involved. 

All the homework except one email is done, and the two presentations are ready today. Yep -- I'm trying very hard to keep on top of things ...

AH—those DHs and their set ways!!! This will NEVER be a dining room! But be sure to read to the end—the office may eventually have another purpose, and I approve!

Look at Murphy! She needs different things to entertain her brain, so she climbed on a rock in the forest! 

MOM -- look at me!!

A fitting quote

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 ...