Be prepared!!!

Oh, I did not throw that dead skunk into a neighbor's yard!!! I have a large woodlot (my forest) behind my house, and the skunk will decompose and return to the land in a safe and friendly environment! I do NOT dispose of garbage over the fence. I should have been clearer on that, but I assumed (and we all know what happens with that) that everyone who is a regular reader knows I have a natural woodlot behind me. 

Someone said it would smell. I've seen and smelted enough dead animals in that forest—we've lived here for 23 years. And yes, you will smell the decomposition for a day or perhaps two. I have to say that bugs are pretty efficient and will clean up a carcass in no time. 

It's not to be gross, but it's a fact of life. We've seen some dead animals along the path that we discovered because of the smell. So, as morbid as it sounds, I would check them out daily. Yep, the smell is gone within a day or two, and the inside of the carcass is gone (and not because of scavengers) within three days. All that remains is a flattened shell of bones and outer skin. 

So -- please do not call it disgusting to put the skunk over the fence! He went to his natural habitat and had he died on the other side of the fence, it would have equated to the same thing! I'm very opinionated but I'm not disrespectful!

Apologies for not making it clear that I put the skunk IN THE FOREST, not into a neighbor's backyard!

I actually accomplished stuff yesterday. OK, I do stuff every day, but I'm getting through the pile of bindings. Here's one more that is done. Oh, and I got the binding on another small project, which I can't share at the moment. 

Binding - DONE

And I got the binding on this one as well. 

Another binding - DONE

But not without some excitement!! Can you believe what I found on the back? 

A gold thread!!

Yep—that is one of those tiny gold threads! Who knew I would still be finding them so many years after I ripped that project apart? Those gold threads are like glitter!!!

And I got lucky with the binding. See how much I had left after I joined it? 

Just enough binding

That leaves two quilts to put the binding on. One is mine, and one is a donation quilt. I hope to work on them today. 

Two quilts left to bind

I have the next quilt loaded on the long arm, and I'll get to it this afternoon. 

I'm trying to get Studio B cleaned up. Well, it's clean, but there are a few things sitting around that I haven't quite had the time to put away. I still needed to go through the last of four boxes of novelty fabric, and last night seemed like a good time. 

Repacking the novelty print box

So all of this has to go into that box!!!! 

What needs to be packed in the box

I got a chuckle as I spotted this fabric. How appropriate!!!

Skunk fabric

Look what else I discovered! Olympic fabric. Technically, it's not Olympic fabric because it would cost too much in royalties, but it looks like Olympic fabric. That must be 20 years old!!!

"Olympic" fabric

However, I finally found the remainder of the Scrabble fabric, which is why I was searching through those boxes. There are four pieces, and now I need to determine if I want to get rid of some of them. That's a job to see later this afternoon. I love how I found one piece in the first box I chose and the other three pieces in the final box. 

Scrabble fabric

When Murphy and I returned from the morning walk, DH wanted to know why she was wet. Well, Murphy LOVES the neighbor's sprinklers and plops herself down and tries to drink from them. Yes, this is not good when she was recently sprayed by a skunk because when dry, she smells OK. But when wet, she stinks again! But we love her so much that I don't mind. I need a video of this next time, not just a picture. 

MOM -- I LOVE the sprinkler

So, while watching a video, I decided it was time to paint those little display cases for my tea sets. Coat number one is on!

Painting the displays for the tea sets

Other stuff happened, but that's enough for today. Oh, I washed those quilts that need to be mailed, and I'll pack them up and mail them tomorrow. 

This is partially why our healthcare system is broken. I went to have an ultrasound on my shoulder. I walked into the clinic and spotted a sign asking me to have the health card and requisition ready. OH, CRAP -- I forgot the requisition at home. But I knew I had another test on that requisition, which was scanned when that other appointment was done. Do you think I could remember what it was? The registration person was like a deer in headlights. She couldn't find anything. However, her colleague said it was probably for an X-ray of the shoulder. Yep -- that was it and it was found. 

That was NOT smart on my part—I had forgotten about the requisition—but the day was saved. However, what if that requisition couldn't be found? Well, I arrived early, and my doctor was upstairs. I'm sure I could have scrambled and got another one. 

However, as I waited, two ladies came in. They were to have ultrasounds that required drinking lots of water. Had they drank their water? Yes, but one said she had to let some out because she couldn't hold it. Well, we'll see if they can do the test. The other one responded that she had drunk some, but not all. Seriously??? So, those slots were taken up with people who likely would NOT be able to have a successful test. Then, new ones would have to be rescheduled. 

We have all suffered through those mind-blowing moments when our bladders are so full that we think we will explode, but we don't! Perhaps they got lucky! 

It was a good lesson to all (me included) to go to the clinic PREPARED!!!!! 

Here are the links for the Virtual Retreat this weekend. 

Saturday, July 27 - Starts at 6 PM

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89816483795?pwd=Mjc3M3pvVmZPdjdsQzlHS3Zhck52dz09

Meeting ID: 898 1648 3795
Passcode: 248667

Sunday, July 28 - Starts at Noon

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82983517671?pwd=ODdsa1FJenQwdFNaQWFTNGd4bEhPZz09

Meeting ID: 829 8351 7671
Passcode: 117636

Virtual Retreats are always fun, and we usually get a lot done while chatting with our peers. I look forward to seeing you this weekend.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Row by Row Revisited

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 remember when we drove around the countryside collecting license plates for the Row by Row Experience? I went mad that first year (2014) and in subsequent years to collect as many license plates as possible. They are printed on fabric and were quite a hot item. We swapped them like mad! 

I made a quilt from the 2014 plates. Here's a link to that quilt and how it was made. 

The rest of my plates are stored in a box. 

My By-row license plates

Here's a side view so you can appreciate the quantity. Yes, I know—there's nothing like excess! 

ACK!!! 

So why was I looking at that yesterday? When we went to Maui, I had purchased a license plate. They had leftovers from previous years, and I looked through them and picked this one. 

My license plate I bought this year in Hawaii

I spotted this one from the same store when I looked through my collection! I could have ended up with the SAME plate as I'm sure they also had leftovers of this one. I wonder if they are from the same year. 

Already have one from Hawaii

When I was searching for something else in a different location, I spotted this license plate, which I know is a duplicate. 

Crazy Quilter license plate

I hung this one on my design wall so I could enjoy it rather than it being stuffed in a box. 

It was so much fun to go through all those plates, see the stores where I personally went (some are now closed), and look at all the slogans. Great memories! 

There was a real run on this from 2014 to about 2018, and then people got tired of it? We all spent gobs of money as we hit each store, but had loads of fun swapping them. The pandemic took a big hit on this event, and I see they are trying to resurrect it again. You can check out this link, as several stores in Canada are participating again, but I don't think they have the license plate thing happening. It's like a big shop hop as you can get a pattern and buy a kit to hang a wall. 

I managed to fill those two plastic totes with novelty prints and stacked two cardboard boxes on top. It's much less precarious now, so hopefully it won't collapse again. Yes -- I need to be working on using that up, but there are a few more priorities to deal with first. The bottom line is that it's neatly organized and out of the way. 

Four boxes of novelty prints

I had to "wreck" my fun configuration in Studio B this morning. I have a Facebook Live on Thursday about applique, and I have a dry run for the cameras this morning to make sure everything is set up and connected. I think I got it all done to my satisfaction. This time, it took about 15 minutes. Last time? It took days because I didn't have the right bits and pieces, but I eventually connected everything.  

This is my last Zoom or Facebook Live, which required some reconfiguring of the space until the fall. So all is good, and I'll be able to enjoy all that empty space soon.  

OH - I found two more yardage pieces when I moved some of that novelty fabric, so those are labeled and on the shelf with the rest of the quilt backings. I'm sure there's going to be more that I find, but for the moment, all is good. 

Two more yardage pieces for quilt backings

Back to the wonky quilt - I had a look at the pattern. The pattern is called Adjustable Size - Jelly Roll Race Quilt. I totally disagree with that title because it's misleading. It implies you are making a jelly roll race quilt that you can make bigger or smaller. However, to me, the term "jelly roll race" means I'm sewing the strips together and then folding that long strip in half and sewing it together and repeating that 5 times, and voila - the quilt is done. Right? Isn't that what we all perceive as a jelly roll race quilt? 

This pattern has you sew all your strips together (with an addition between the strips). That's no problem. But then it tells you to cut a strip X inches long, cut a second strip (the same length), pin them together, and sew. That is NOT the jelly roll race method. It's a strip quilt made with jelly rolls, but the methodology is completely different. 

So, while the pattern tells you to cut the strips to the same lengths and pin them, it tells you to start at one side, sew the two first strips together, and keep adding the next strip to what you already did. It tells you to start one row from the bottom and the next from the top to prevent the bow, but that doesn't stop the multiple handling the first row gets compared to the last. Never mind the excess bulk for pressing and sewing. 

And finger press as you go. ACK!!!! 

Here's what I would do: 

• Join all the strips into one long strip, including the inserts if you want. The inserts are just spacers to increase the size of the quilt. More on that another day. 
• Once the strips are in one long strip, cut the first length. Then, cut the second length and sew them together. Set them aside. 
• Cut the next two lengths and sew them together. Always start these seams from the top. 
• Continue sewing until all the pairs are together. Carefully press the seams as you go, ensuring they are straight. Draw a line on your ironing board if necessary to keep the seams straight. 
• Then start joining the pairs and start your seam from the bottom. 

Let's say you have 24 rows or columns. After the first pass, you will have 12 pairs, and each strip has been handled the same number of times—ONCE. 

Next, you'll sew the pairs together, giving you six groups of four strips each. Press those seams and repeat the process, remembering to start sewing from the bottom. 

You should now have three groups of 8 strips. Sew the first group to the second and then add the third. All the strips will be handled pretty much equally. You never have to deal with the entire bulk of the quilt until you sew the final seam, and it makes it a lot easier to press with only a small portion of the quilt at any given time. 

I haven't had a chance to watch the video. My friend mentioned that she did not read the PDF but went by the video, and the video is different from the pattern. I'll check it out for tomorrow. 

So here's the moral of this story - just because you can, doesn't mean you should. And just because someone makes a video does not make it right. There are too many poor-quality (filming and techniques) videos on YouTube. Everyone wants to be a star and earn money by creating videos. I went back to check that $8K monthly. I don't know where that came from because I spotted another piece of information about this company: they only earned $1K monthly from their videos with almost 1,000,000 subscribers. So PLEASE be careful --- not every video is worth doing! 

If in doubt, double-check with someone else. There is so much wrong with this particular pattern (the name, the pressing, the piecing) that I can only imagine the "fun" when I watch the video. 

YES—I know I'm opinionated, but my friend was all excited because they made a jelly roll race quilt when, in fact, they did not. They made a quilt from jelly roll strips, but the method was NOT the jelly roll race. Am I being too picky? The methodology is so different. 

And if you want to resize the quilt using the jelly roll race technique, I know how to do that, and I'll share that later this week. Yes, I spend loads of time thinking about this stuff! 

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Squaring up a VERY WONKY quilt

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 strange happened in this instance. When you take one strip of fabric, add a second strip of fabric, and then continue in that fashion, the result (after adding MANY strips of fabric) is that the end is usually longer than the beginning. Not so with this one - the end was much shorter (or narrower by at least 11 inches) if you want. And it had quite the bow in it! 

The task of the day was to try to salvage the quilt. Of anything I've been asked to do, this one stumped me. 

We started by clearing off one work table to see if we could square it up. Hmm—that wasn't working well, so we tried folding the quilt in the opposite direction, parallel to the seams. Then, one side of the quilt was trimmed. We tried using that edge as a guide to cut the other edge. 

To our horror, that first cut did NOT look good at all. One half of the side was straight, and then at the fold, it took a crazy angle. 

So we laid it out again and tried to square it up—again with it folded in half, but in the opposite orientation. But NOT before I gave the darn thing a good press with steam. This is what it looked like. 

Trimming a quilt by folding it

You can see how the end on the bottom was significantly longer than the top edge, and it had significant bows in it (I wish I had taken a picture), which resulted from sewing row after row in the same orientation. I believe this was a tutorial online! Sigh.....

That wasn't working, so I moved more furniture so we could lay the quilt top out flat. Oh boy—this is pretty wonky. What to do? 

Then, I decided to use a floorboard as a guide. So we lined up one side with a floorboard. Then I took MANY rulers to continue that straight edge on the quilt top. Once I was happy with that, I marked the line with chalk. The ends aren't going to be square—the ends of the strips, that is, as some of them have a bit of an angle. But the edge of the quilt was STRAIGHT. The mat went on the floor, and she trimmed it along the chalk line. Ignore the pink tape measure - it makes the side look wonky, but it was just lying there at this moment. 

Trying to get a straight edge

We used THREE long tape measures in our journey, as well as many rulers. NO—the quilt sides are not 90 degrees to the top and bottom, and I'm hoping that can be fixed when it gets quilted. 

It took a lot of finagling to get the other side parallel to the first. Do not ask me why this wasn't a simple task, but it wasn't. I think the curved seams gave off an optical vibe that was very distracting to work with. 

Attempting to square the other edge

However, we persevered, and the second side is now parallel (more or less) to the first one. This quilt ended up being 73 inches wide or somewhere in that range, and it's much longer than the width, so it was a challenge to deal with, not just the wonky seams but the optical illusion from the curved seams and the size. 

But here it is - more or less trimmed and ready to be quilted. 

The quilt is salvaged

So here's some good advice - just because someone posts a video on how to make a quilt - don't believe it! If someone thinks they have a better method for making a jelly roll quilt, don't believe them. While I think this was to emulate a jelly roll quilt, with the goal of making it larger, there are better ways to make a larger jelly roll quilt. Speaking of jelly roll quilts - the construction method dictates that the quilt is a specific size. You can mess with that to some extent, but you will run into significant issues if you're not careful. It's a simple mathematical formula to resize a jelly roll quilt. I should explain it one day. 

The second thing is NEVER just take one strip of fabric and, without measuring it, add it to another piece of fabric and then repeat that process. The lengths will NEVER be the same, and they will skew, as happened here. I'll equate EACH new strip in this quilt as a border, and one should NEVER just sew the border onto a quilt. It needs to be measured, cut to the appropriate length, and PINNED. 

How would I have done this? I could have measured the first strip, and then I would have cut the next strip to the EXACT SAME length, and I would have sewn a pair of strips together after pinning them. Then I would have sewn the next two pairs and so on. Then, when I had a pile of pairs, I would have started to join (always pinning) the pairs. Continuing to sew to the first row (column) means that the strip gets handled a LOT, so it tends to stretch, while the final row was handled once and didn't stretch. 

By sewing in pairs, each strip is handled the SAME number of times - zero stretching! 

I want to find the instructions to see if this was, in fact, how the instructor said to sew this quilt because EVERYTHING about the construction, as I understand it, is WRONG!!! This is from a YouTube instructor, where I saw in a short video this morning, earns about $8K monthly from her videos. I hope the others are better than this one. I'm missing out on making a lot of money! But I do NOT want to be tied to making videos. I have better things to do! I could make videos on decluttering! That would be entertaining. 

Happily, the quilt on the long arm turned out beautifully. 

The quilt turned out amazing! 

I did accomplish a few things. I sorted through two of the boxes of novelty prints and removed FOUR large pieces that can be used for quilt backings. They were measured and moved to the quilt backing area. 

Four quilt backings are measured and on the shelf

I removed a couple of fruit fabrics as I have a separate storage area for them. 

Fruit fabrics

And those new plastic bins hold much more fabric than the cardboard boxes. It was a fun trip down memory lane as I went through all those prints. Gosh, I seem to have everything on fabric. Do you see the matches?

A bin of novelty fabrics

The next quilt is loaded on the long arm and ready to go today. I have some applique to do, and it's Monday Sewing, so it'll be the perfect day for that. 

Here are some photos of what's in bloom in the backyard. Two lilies have appeared in the pond. 

The first two lilies in the pond

Oh dear -- I need to find out what this flowering shrub is. Gardening was never my strong point. Where are the bees? This one is also quite fragrant and beside the gazebo, but it has been a few days since I've been there. No time!

Another flowering shrub

My one peony is starting to bloom. I had a better picture than this, and I think I should plant a few more plants (bushes) behind this one. It seems to thrive in that area, and there's a lot of empty space there. OK—where do I get peonies? I want colors that are different from the fuchsia I have. 

My peony

After our water issues were resolved, I could get the pump to the pond going, and Miss Murphy was again fascinated by the waterfalls. Oh, and you can see the remains of our irises. We have yellow ones. I'm surprised they are still living because they are right where Murphy likes to tramp. 

MOM -- there's water flowing!

Meanwhile, Lexi just watches. She's so calm compared to Murphy. She's my "hero" and will save the world. Do you see the resemblance? 

MOM -- I'm on watch duty!

On that note, I have a ton of follow-up emails to complete today. I'm a tad behind in that, but I also have stuff to do in Studio B since I didn't get much of my stuff completed yesterday. And I was OK with that. I'm glad I could help with those two quilts, and now she can move forward on completing them. 

And I'm off to spin class and want to find those instructions! Just because you can doesn't mean you should! 

I managed to get a bit more put away in the kitchen, and the spice drawer is almost finished. Why is it taking so long? I have to wash the little funnel after every use, and rather than take the time to dry it, I let it air dry. When I have a minute or two or just pass by, I grab the funnel and fill another jar. I thought of a great idea to store the excess spices. If I had ripped through the process, I wouldn't have time to mull over the ideas, so slow and steady is how I work because I'm problem-solving as I go. 

This method has worked for me for years - I will NOT change it, despite all your "protests" that I move faster. 

I hope you are all tackling your drawers or some areas of your house. It doesn't need to take hours - a few minutes well spent in any area can start to make a difference!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Committed? or is that a commitment?

It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. Oh, having a deadline also helps. It's the third year I've run the UFO club, and the amount of work I've completed is insane. I can vouch for everyone in the two clubs when it's been a godsend in getting some of those old projects done. I'm shocked actually because there isn't anyone policing us; however, there is that $10 per month that we could lose. 

And who wants to always miss the deadline in front of your peers? Not me! 

Well, the same thing is happening in some of the other clubs. This year I also started the MANY blocks projects. These are the quilt with many blocks, like Dear Jane, the 365 Quilt, and Town and Country, to name a few. 

There's no money involved in that club, but it's the PEER pressure. I don't want to let the group down, and I certainly do not want to let myself down. 

Here's an update on the 365 Quilt. These are the blocks that I finished while at the retreat. 

And to appreciate how small those 3½" blocks (unfinished) are, look at this flying geese unit. Now that's small!!!!

Teeny tiny flying geese units

Feb 21

Feb 22

Feb 23

A component of that block is wonky, but in the scheme of things, it'll work out just fine. 

And then the remainder of the month got easy. 

February 24

February 25

February 26

February 27

Can you believe it? I completed my homework this month, and I still have loads of time left. So I forged ahead to get February completely done. 

When this quilt came out, it was a leap year, and the assignment for Feb 28 and 29 was to make the center block. I cut out Part I of the center block. 

Part I of the center block is cut

I managed to get it partially sewn. I'll finish that off today and work on Part 2. 

Partially sewn together

That will leave the bonus block for February 14 (waiting on the pattern to come), and there is also a bonus block for your birthday, which I might as well do now. It came in the preamble stuff on the 365-day quilt website. If you go into the TEACHABLE version of this quilt, there is all kinds of information and a checklist to help you remember what you have read and not read. I LIKE lists. 

Yes -- I'm trying to follow along with the website, although the patterns are only released that day. So today, the pattern for January 31 will be released, and I'm ahead. But I'm still going to make it happen. I need to figure out how to create an icon on my iPad for a specific website. I know you can do it --- I must search that out. Just found it -- now I have to do it when I get back from the walk. 

Let's go back to February 1. I thought I had changed up the block, but upon further study, I realized that I used ONE extra color than the designer, which changed the look of the block. 

The pattern

She used the SAME fabric for A and B, and I used two different colors. Get over it! Besides, someone mentioned that February 1 is their birthday, and they are a rebel, so this will stay to remind me it's OK if it's not 100% by the book. 

My version

And when I started to cut the center block, I had to dig out the second main color for this quilt - cream. 

The cream scrap box

I am upping my homework assignment to not only complete the blocks up to February 27, but I want those two bonus blocks and the center block done. I'll be ahead of the game, and then instead of waiting for next month for the "next" assignment, I'm going to keep plugging away at it. The more ahead I stay, the more likely I'll be to get it complete. 

And getting all the blocks done this year would be HUGE. Let's see how it goes. 

So onto the next commitment, which was for the Remedial Jen Kingwell class, for anyone working on a Jen Kingwell and fell behind. I wanted to enlarge the BOHO Heart quilt and finish blocks and that applique border for Green Tea, plus quilt all of them, including Wanderer's Wife and Long Time Gone, so I've got a lot of work to do. 

But I made significant progress, and my homework this month was to add the border to the top and both sides of the BOHO heart quilt. What happened? 

After finding a substitute fabric for the missing one (I dare you to find it!), I got the top border on. I opened up lots of seams to make that happen, but it was worth it -- I LOVE the floating effect. However, it looks out of proportion this way. And my intent always was to add to the sides as well. 

The top border is complete

Well, here it is!!! DONE. Well, the top, at least. Adding to the sides was super easy, and adding to the top was a pain. But now that it's done -- I'm thrilled that I went through that exercise, and I'm sorry I didn't think of it at the beginning of the class for the others. Sorry!

BOHO Heart quilt top - DONE

I have to make the bias binding from my striped fabric and use the continuous binding method. The strip is cut and waiting to be pressed. Then this one will be ready for quilting!! WOW!!!!! I'm super excited!!!

So this happened yesterday as well. Someone asked me for something, and while I knew where it was, there were seven tubs it could be in. I searched the first tub, and it wasn't there. 

Searching through a tub of things

So I dug out the rest of the tubs from under the long arm, and while they were mostly sorted, a little arranging needed to be done, so I did that. 

Tubs to sort through

The tubs are now properly sorted AND labeled and back under the long arm. 

OH -- I did find what I was looking for, so that was good. 

I still have that first tub to finish going through. It's sort of a junky tub with samples of stitching and embroidery. A good part of it could go, but I need a bit more time to figure stuff out. 

One tub that still needs a LOT of sorting

And for some reason, that precipitated another search. I spotted this drawer in the cabinets beneath my cutting table. Oh yes -- it was clearly labeled what was inside the drawer, and I knew it was there. But yesterday, I questioned why it was there. Why do I need these novelty prints? What was I going to do with them? 

A drawer of novelty prints cut into squares

I opened up the drawer and discovered that it resulted from several exchanges I had done over the years. WHY or why did I think that was a good idea? There were bags from people all over the place. I still have SIX boxes of novelty prints, so I think I can let these go. They are now in a bag for Diane to make children's quilts. HA --- you thought I was going to offer that up! Well, NO fabric will be up for grabs -- it all goes to Diane to sew! 

Bags of novelty print squares

There is a scrap box of novelty prints on the scrap box shelf, and I need more room on that shelf, so I moved that container of scraps to the drawer and swapped the labels. 

A box of I Spy fabric scraps

There are some decent-sized pieces, but not as large as 4". That'll be another project for a retreat one day. Or when I retire and downsize --- I will have LOADS to keep me busy, but none of it will take a lot of room!

And I got a call from someone who gets the scraps from what Diane sews and she is coming to pick up two bags, which is good because my staging area is overflowing with stuff on its way out the door. There is more stuff now than when I took the photo, and it'll look better on Friday! 

The staging area 

 A couple of years ago, I would have cringed at the thought of donating those novelty squares. Yesterday? I didn't even consider keeping them. How I have changed, and as I keep saying -- there is NOTHING sacred in that fabric stash any longer. I'm free!!! I can't wait to start seeing empty spots on the shelves so I can consolidate stuff even more. The day will come when those shelves will be empty or close to it, but we've got a long, long way to go. 

How I wish someone would have had a serious talk with me years ago. The amount of money I spend, the time I've "wasted" managing it, and now having to deal with it. What the heck was I thinking? I don't want to be the other extreme and only buy and do one project at a time. That would be too boring for me, but MANY at the same time? And buying just for the sake of buying? How silly I was. 

I'm older and wise,r and if there is ANY advice I could pass along to a new quilter --- DO NOT OVERBUY and do NOT overcommit on what you want to do. Just because others are doing it -- doesn't mean you have to. Those projects will still be available to buy when you are ready. New ones might be out that you will like better. Work on what you have and enjoy the process. DO NOT try to do what everyone else is doing -- you'll drive yourself MAD.

Today, it's all about the embroidery machine and the long arm. I also have an urgent quilt to make, so I'll be busy. 

While I enjoyed walking in the country at the retreat, it was WONDERFUL to talk on bare and non-slippery sidewalks! I got in my distance yesterday and made a trip to the mall. 

Bare sidewalks!

I decided I needed a reliable phone for my landline (yes -- I was going to get rid of it, but thankfully I didn't since I can't use my cell phone in the house). This is my new phone. I had to laugh as I tried to listen to all the crappy voicemail on the old one, and I couldn't even get through all the messages before the battery died! Yep -- it was time for a new shiny phone. 

My new phone

While at the mall, I checked out the guys at the Bell store again. I keep hoping to meet someone who says, "oh yes, this is what is happening," but I'm a dreamer. Although he said there could be a problem with the towers switching from 4G to 5G service, I'm not getting a clear path. I'll call technical support again and see what happens. 

So I finished my 2022 Virtual Challenge, and the medal was supposed to have shipped on January 4, but I have yet to see it. So I contacted customer support (do you see how much time we spend on follow-up stuff?), and I got the tracking information. That parcel sat somewhere for over three weeks in limbo land. Now it's in Chicago, so hopefully, it'll be here soon. 

I finished the day off by watching some videos on digital cutters. Yep --- there are classes this weekend, and I need to prep for them! And I have to laugh -- where do people think I learn stuff from? I certainly don't have the knowledge off the top of my head. Nope -- I get out the manual, watch tutorials, or whatever, and I PRACTISE. I've learned tons over the years, but I still have LOADS to learn. 

Well, I'm off and running!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!