Busy Days...

Oh my goodness! I got so busy yesterday that I didn't even realize until today that I hadn't blogged yesterday. So sorry for anyone who's been reading faithfully :(

So, I began yesterday by cleaning the upper floor. Was it Tuesday?....the day the list says I'm to do it? Nope! The lists are there to help me keep on top of things. They are not like The Commandments! They are NOT carved in stone! They are merely a guideline that helps me to see what's been done and what's left to do. They also help SW know what's been done and what he could work on :)

This was the before of the spare bedroom and our room.

I had stripped the bedding from our bed before the photo. The spare room bed was already stripped from before. Notice all the laundry that needs to be put away...again!  :P But before that job, dust and vacuum, and clean the bathroom. I did not ask SW for any help because he just wasn't feeling altogether well. Just for the record...My house does not have dust bunnies. It has fur bunnies! And with Jade's shedding of late, those dust bunnies are running amok!

I am sooooo grateful for our Dyson! It does such an amazing job! 

Once I got that far in the process, it was time to log in to my Zoom "Free Motion Quilting" class. As per Elaine's request, I had prepared by reading (what I thought was) all of the pertinent information in my sewing machine manual, and all the of suggested articles she sent links to. I also had my machine ready, and had prepared a number of blocks for sewing. The only glitch I discovered was that my foot did not let the fabric move freely. Thank goodness for the help of someone else in the class. She told me about a nut on the foot that would allow me to raise it enough for the fabric to move freely. Bad me! I did not read the whole sewing machine manual. However...to be fair....I found the necessary information in "Decorative Stitches" instead of with the section on installing the free motion quilting foot :( Anyway...problem solved! We began with a number of stitching exercises the purpose of which was to familiarize us with the effects of thread tension. We then moved on to stitching lines to observe what happened when we moved the fabric slowly, moved it quickly, went forwards, went backwards, and went side-to-side in both directions. Suffice it to say, there is a bit of finesse involved in getting the stitches to look uniform when "the dogs" aren't moving the fabric for you. And the only way that will improve is with practice....and LOTS of it!!!

It was surprising how quickly the 2 hours passed by! Our homework....Practice the stitching, moving the fabric in all directions, until we can do it confidently and with uniformity, and work on doodling patterns which we can then translate to free motion quilting.

After class was done, I headed back up to the upper level to continue the cleaning. The end result...bathroom cleaned, everything dusted and vacuumed, beds made, and laundry put away :D

Today, I had a Zoom class to learn about EQ8...software for designing quilts/quilt blocks. This came out of an earlier class this week...I think Out Of The Box. Elaine just offered it out of the goodness of her heart because someone was asking questions about the program. Amazing! She is already SO busy, and yet she still does this! Anyway, I digress. This is really and amazing program. 

What I REALLY like about it is that you can created a visual of a quilt you want to make, in the size you want to make it, and it allows you to see if the colours will look good (before going and buying fabric) AND it tells you how much of each fabric you'll need!!!! Awesome! That is not something I'm especially good at without a pattern in my hand. There have been many occasions that I have purchased more fabric than I need :P It'll even allow you to upload photos of fabric you have in your stash :o

Once that class was done, I scarfed down a bit of food and then it was time for a video chat with all my ladies :D <3 <3

Lol...the new(ish) momma is yawning. The grandbub wasn't in the picture at this time as she was busy trying to whack a tennis ball on the floor using her mother's belt. It was so lovely to see these girls today! I love them so much! We're lucky that technology allows us to do this. When I was young and away from home, my only contact with loved ones was a phone call. So much better when you can see them :)

The rest of the day was spent in laziness....reading, napping,....stuff like that. Right now, we're listening to "Martini Music" on Hunter's Bay Radio. This show is hosted by "ET" (Ethel Taylor). She's 94 years old!!! Her granddaughter, and her husband, help ET put the show together each week. I sure hope this show continues for many years to come.

And on that note, I wish you all a very good night!

TTFN