There seem to be many travel days in my life, but this was a pretty uneventful one and I'm thankful for that.  Off to the airport nice and early and as I lugged a large suitcase out the door as the Uber was close by, Miss Murphy decides that she NEEDS to come with me. Ah -- NO Murphy, no dogs allowed. I thought I was going to have trouble getting her back in the house, but she's a good girl and reluctantly came back inside.  I practically skipped through the security line. That NEXUS card (priority through the security line) is a very valuable thing to have. The line at Tim's was a d ..read more

Years ago, someone told me we should schedule ME days in our calendar. Those would be days when you get to do things for yourself. I've tried but have been unsuccessful, and while yesterday wasn't really an ME day, I didn't sew and ran around for ME. I made a list of things that needed to be done—emails that needed to be responded to and many other things. I went to bed last night with two things left on the list. Both are responding to emails, so I can do that while I'm away. Yep, I'm away for a few days.  But here's what happened yesterday! Remember those missing things? I did not ..read more

I feel like I'm back in a marathon—there is so much to do, so many time limits and things take longer than planned!  However, I got a few more things done, but not as much as I would have liked. I'm afraid that today is going to be eaten up with computer work, as I have a lot of emails that need to be sent and that need to be done today.  I've mentioned missing things from time to time. One thing has been missing for years. It's an embroidery file I purchased many years ago, and it's an alphabet that comes in 26 different files. I want it for several reasons, but I've had no luc ..read more

Can you explain this to me?  I spotted this when I was on my way home from one of the morning walks.  A friendly dog walk? I think NOT! Nothing appears out of the ordinary in the photo. The person in the front was jogging (although she stopped to walk a fair bit), and she had her dog on a leash. OK -- so nothing wrong about that. Someone was following her on the bike - husband? Son? Nothing wrong with that, either.  But she was talking on her cell phone! She didn't have earbuds in, so she held the phone flat in front of her while attempting to jog and walk the dog ..read more

Hmm -- where is my techie?  This is what happens when you are NOT a professional but think you are. I've been trying hard not to store data on the hard disks of my computers. I use several online storage places, and I have two external hard disks—well, actually, I have four, but I was only using two.  In an effort to clean things up—yes, when I'm supposed to be sewing—I decided to empty the old one. I knew it was finicky and needed to get the data off it.  I took it to the Geek Squad to see if they could have better luck. Well, they can see the folders—the same as ..read more

I'm almost giddy with delight this morning. A far cry from last week! Why? I have the house to myself today, except for the girls, but they're OK. Don't get me wrong, as DH is extremely self-sufficient and doesn't need constant attention, but I'm perfectly OK if he's away. He even offered to buy me groceries yesterday! It's raining outside, so there is no guilt about being in the garden and no danger of wanting to sit in the gazebo! Even better? While walking yesterday, I glanced at my calendar to see what I needed to prep for this morning. WHAT???  Nothing? I have an entire day to myself ..read more

It's incredible what we can accomplish when we focus. And with all the travel and so many things on the go, it's been hard to concentrate on my sewing projects.  After getting some paperwork done in the morning and the girls both had to go to the vet (ka-ching!), I was ready to buckle down to work. Something I hadn't done in weeks.   First, let's talk about the vet visit.  Both of them were extremely excited to be in the car, as they do not usually go anywhere in the car. Of course, they were happy to be out and got a chance to sniff all the other dogs that had been to the ..read more

Thanks for the comments. I need to respond to them, but I seem never to get to that. I read them! And YES—the statement stamped on my carabiner is to protect them from liability. It's sad we live in a society where we have to make those statements. And you know, whenever you see a warning about something, someone has tried it. There are probably people out there who search for opportunities so they can sue the companies.  Did anyone ever think about how much that adds to the costs of products? They have to be on their toes to protect us and themselves, and all that adds up! Extra packagin ..read more

I'm going to confess right up front- this will not be a pretty blog post.  I'm having one of those days—a pity day, perhaps, but I'm so frustrated that I feel like throwing in the towel, ditching all the technology and people. Curling up in a chair and reading—not just for today but forever—is tempting! I told you it wasn't going to be pretty! OK, I feel better having written my frustrations out and then deleted it!  I feel that there is too much of everything in this world, and people are trying to do it all, watch it all, or do it all, and let's face it—we CANNOT!!! For exampl ..read more

I chuckled this morning when I remembered the title of yesterday's post—Writing Quilt Patterns. During the Virtual Retreat, we discussed how some patterns are good and some are notoriously bad. Why is that? Do these people not have pattern testers? Do they not get feedback from their audience?  Most designers will have changes (for free) on their websites, but one designer (I won't mention the name) is famous for writing confusing patterns. And then, I guess once they get enough bad feedback, they reissue the pattern with the same name but a different version—i.e., Backpack 2.0. I ch ..read more