What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 ...

I now have the distribution list for Spice Market organized, and I can send the information today. However, I have one slight problem. Someone sent me money, but I need their email address. So, if your banking name is Anne James, please email me, as I don't know how to send you information. elainetheriault@gmail.com

It was a huge task to get organized, and now I'm getting back to work on the presentations. Four of them need to be done by Saturday morning, and NONE of them are complete! However, two of them are in good shape ...

OK—so what do you do when the book you're listening to is depressing? The book is "When the World Fell Silent," by Donna Jones Alward, and it is about the Halifax explosion (1917) when they were in the midst of a war. I totally get that times were tough. Many people died in the war, the explosion, and the Spanish flu. It just seemed that the two women in the book were saddled with EVERY possible calamity. Even the prologue foreshadowed terrible things. 

I hate abandoning a book, so I persevered. I'm now down to one hour ...

I went to bed at my usual time, and I did not take any cold meds. Guess what? I got up at my usual time, so that's all sorted out, and I feel fine. I'm probably a bit tired and dehydrated, but I'm trying to fix both. Travel is a big culprit in messing with your health! At least for me. And I mean travel for work, not for vacation. 

But the dreams I had? Oh boy!!! You would think the world is coming to an end, with alien ships traversing the sky and spying on people ...

The surgery went well! The surgeon called, the first recovery nurse called, the second recovery nurse called, and the pharmacy called! It was all pretty efficient, and I was on my way to pick DH up. 

Maria, the second recovery nurse, was a lovely person, very thorough, and very helpful in understanding how the immobilizer brace fits on, how to help DH get dressed, etc. While she was finishing up a final round of meds, I was at the pharmacy getting educated on all the meds he would need for the next month. I brought home a pharmacy! 

It took ...

What a fabulous day we had at The Hobby Horse!!! Angie and I had never tag-teamed doing a lecture, but we worked amazingly well together! The students who came went home with their heads spinning on how to get better organized, find more time to sew, cut fabric, and much more!!! 

It always amazes me how many people feel that they have this stuff down pat. Heck, I teach it, and I'm still learning! It was a great session. We're continuing with another session and new topics in October, so check that out. 

The afternoon was devoted to ...

And now I'm off to something else today! I've got some classes at the Hobby Horse, and I'm packed!!

Poor Murphy—she hasn't been happy with all the toing and froing these last weeks. But I bet she's confused because there is no big black suitcase at the door—just a bunch of tote bags! But she's not budging from the front door because they did not get a walk yesterday, and I think she's mad!

MOM - you can't leave without me!

We finished the training early yesterday, so I was home ...

You could go down a rabbit hole discussing operating systems. Between iOS, Android, and Windows, I suspect those three cover a considerable part of the market. What is surprising is who owns those companies! It's mind-boggling how large some of these companies are. Did you know that Google owns Android? They bought them in 2005! And they have purchased many other companies as well—we just don't know that because they keep the original name. 

Oh, I remember a conversation about who owns Tim Hortons! Check it out—it's a tangled web. They are NOT 100% Canadian-owned ...

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 ...

What are they doing to my forest? OK, so it's a woodlot, not an endless forest, but I call it my forest—it sounds more impressive! There are a number of entrances to the forest from the sidewalks surrounding it. Since we have lived here, all but one of the entrances has had a paved path for a brief distance into the forest. In all cases, the pavement has prevented erosion on the trails (small hills), which has been good. 

You've heard me mention the erosion. That has only been in the last five years? And I swear ...

I had to chuckle as I went to bed last night. Someone sent me this in the morning, and that's how my day went!

I needed a picture of a package of needles, so I dug out my bag of needles. 

A mess of needles

The needles are ...

I'm surprised at how "quickly" this basket of green scraps is disappearing. Wow—who knew that it could happen so quickly once I put my mind to it? It has taken eight years to get to this point. Well, maybe not eight, but I started the project eight years ago, and the water incident was about six, so it's been a long time. It feels good to get this cleaned up!

The basket is almost empty

At one point as I was picking out the pieces, the bottom actually peaked through the scraps. I confess before I take ...

I am not alone in the decision to keep that "wet" bag of scraps! And I've found a fun way to tackle what's left in it. 

I have a subscription to The Quilt Show, but I'm so far behind in watching the episodes. I'm way back in the 700 series. We were chatting about this at Monday Sewing, and it's hard for me to "watch" TV when I'm in Studio B. I'm back and forth between the long arm, the stash room, the cutting table, or whatever, and I can't follow along ...

Some of that euphoria popped out of me yesterday as I attempted to play with some technology! I almost gave up technology at that moment! 

So I have a couple of digital cutters and I needed to cut a file using one specific one. I turned it on and went to connect it and NOTHING, despite the fact that it said it was connected to a network. Why??? I was frustrated! 

Then I went for a walk, and when I came back, I realized that this cutter had never been used by me! It appeared to be connected to the ...

Oh gosh—I'm not even sure where to begin or how to say it. The NEW Studio B is a dream come true! If only I had known years ago what I know now! Would I still have tons of UFOs? I might, but I sure would have looked at my buying and making habits a whole lot differently. 

I guess it's like trying to tell a teenager to do something differently based on your experience. They don't want to do it and must learn their way. 

Please do NOT be jealous of me and where I ...

I will post the information on the textile recycler when I have the specifics. I have two potential contacts, and once I firm up, I'll share. That might be an incentive to go through the remaining three blue bags of scraps. 

Something profound is happening to me, and I'm so excited. But it's not really exciting, it doesn't involve anything exciting, and most people would say that I've become a very boring person. 

I have found the BEAUTY of downtime! I have a few classes to finish off the summer, but I booked myself off ...

Mount Projects! Elle -- I love it -- that's the new name for that ridiculously piled table of stuff! Yes -- there is ONE cluttered table, but it's better to have all that stuff on one table than to have little bits all over the place. I may have to resolve the fact that I will always have Mount Projects, but I'm OK - at least for now. 

But it's shocking how much you think you can get done in a day, and when you survey the place at the end, you didn't even touch a thing that was ...

FREEDOM!!!

OK -- so I'm not entirely off the hook as I have urgent paperwork to do this morning, but I spent most of yesterday just puttering and doing what I wanted, and it felt glorious! 

I am determined to keep things under control - OK - until the next crisis hits, but if I keep myself organized, those deadlines shouldn't be an issue? Perhaps I'm deluding myself. That's OK - I can live in a dream world. 

But the biggest issue for me is keeping the space clear. Why is that so hard? I seem to need a table ...

I'm home, and there was no blog yesterday. We were up at the crack of dawn and then whisked off to the airport. One of my colleagues and I were on the same flight, so it made sense to travel together. But first, I want to return to the show's last day. 

The last day was another great one, ending early at 4 PM. I'm not sure why, but it still seemed busy the entire day, and I don't think any part of the show passed slowly for us. I was helping out in the classrooms ...