What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It's time to put my money where my mouth is. I've been harping about decluttering and organizing, but I found a mess yesterday that needs to be dealt with. 

I had collected all my stabilizers in one place, sorted them by type, and purchased large tubs to store them. 

Let's be clear that they need to be separated from batting (fleece), fusible webs, and interfacing. The "underground" world of sewing is mysterious. All four categories are needed to make our projects look amazing, but you never see them. 

I recently wrote some articles for QUILTsocial on a ...

Sometimes, I get asked how I do so much in a day. There are a couple of reasons:

1. I don't watch TV and try to keep my screen time (Facebook and Instagram) to an absolute minimum. 30 minutes daily is a good goal because it's a massive time waster. I don't do Pinterest, which I've heard is a black hole. I'm also highly selective about what I stream and attempt to avoid clickbait at all costs. That is clutter for the mind—I no longer cope with clutter. 
2. I can start work the minute I ...

Yesterday was the complete opposite of the previous day. I accomplished lots, and I went to bed, exhausted but happy, after walking over 20,000 steps.

Quite a bit still needed to be put away, so I got out my audiobook and got to work. I also had to start packing for Quilt Canada in one week, so as I was sorting and putting away, I pulled out the samples I needed for that show. 

Stuff to put away

Of course, my faithful companion was right there with me, lying in the middle of the floor space. It doesn't ...

My readers are so intelligent. The flowering shrub is a weigela. I've never heard that name before, but it's pronounced wedge-eelia. I've got a lead on where to get more peonies, and the next thing I need is mulch—lots and lots of mulch. 

My schedule for June looks pretty good—one five-day trip away and then a few classes here and there, but it's pretty quiet. I love quiet! I have some personal stuff to catch up on, and I will try to get that done! And let's not forget the decluttering! 

Does anyone ...

Although I didn't have solid plans for yesterday - there was a quilt to trim, applique to cut, etc. —I got none of that done. 

Instead, I was repaying a favor, and someone came to use the long arm, so I spent the day helping with that. WAIT—that was the easy part. She also brought a wonky quilt that we attempted to square up. Hmm—that was quite the mental exercise, and before we knew it, it also turned into a physical one. 

I will say (and I told her) that I disagreed with the construction method, and something ...

The vertigo is better this morning, but yesterday, when I bent down to help someone find something on the floor, that was NOT a good thing! At least it's not affecting my enjoyment of the companionship of friends and sewing or writing, so I'm good! 

I accomplished a lot yesterday, although I can only share a bit with you. Boy, oh boy, sewing is humbling! It's so easy to get distracted and make a mistake. Good grief—you want to whack yourself for doing that, but there's always a plan B, so one must move on ...

Believe it or not, I've been earnestly trying to scratch a couple long-ongoing projects off of the list. That open-ended, not-quite-a-quilt-top-yet list. This Improv. HST Medallion is one of the projects that has been in my sights for this fall. I kinda knew where it needed to go after the applique, just didn't have the heart to do it in the summertime. You know how it is with quilts of a certain color!

A few blocks organized for the border and leftover bits

I seriously thought about not posting this week as nothing very interesting has been happening around here. Life has been very quiet and restrained and as Kyle noted, creative juices seem to be acting rather sluggish. But I still have my quilt in the hoop and it's almost time to move the current one along and replace it with the new.

I Am a Maker next up in the hoop!

This week I've been working on another quilt backing - although now I look at it, it could equally be another quilt top!

It seems like I'm never at home at the moment.  I was in Dunedin on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and by the time you read this, I will be in New Plymouth for a few days. 
While I was in Dunedin I caught up with my good friend Sue Lucas.  Sue took me home to her house and I got to see some of her amazing embroidery (plus quite a few unfinished quilts). I've got quite a few photos to share, but I'll save them for a future blog post.   

The view from Sue's house.

Just ...