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Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Entering The Winter Slow Down!


Here she is.

In all of her non-computerized glory.

No more CompuQuilter.  The program, set up and robotics I have ran faithfully for over 14 years.

My Millennium now stands as naked as I feel!

In fact, we've got to do some new discovery - I haven't ran this machine on manual since I got it.  It was too difficult to unscrew the cables front and back any time I wanted to free hand anything - so I gave up and just did everything by CompuQuilter.

I even had to have the machine guy re-instruct me on the many colored buttons on the handles because I never used them.

I think my first job may be to load one of the tops waiting for hand quilting and just do a basting job to get the feeling of it all over again.

It feels somewhat like learning to drive on a manual transmission - but then not driving a stick for 15 years and trying to get back into a rhythm of clutch-and-shift.


While he was working away at the disassembly and then putting my machine through a round of maintenance so I'm ready for the new Intelliquilter install early January, I did some simple paper piecing.


I showed you this, right?

Well….SQUIRREL!

There are so many great pieces in that crumb bin.  They just can't be relegated to dog bed/cat bed.  So....we'll see.  This may become a snow day project.

I have some ideas.

But first - I have GOT to get that blue/chartreuse center sewn.

While all of this machine maintenance was going on, the Hubster called to let me know he had made an appointment at the medical clinic because his ears were now involved in whatever sinus-y thing he had going on.

I picked him up and drove because his equilibrium was off. I waited in the car and proceeded to categorize and delete somewhere near 17,000 photos clogging my phone.

WHY?  Because there was no cell service where the clinic is so I couldn't be checking social media or making phone calls!

30 minutes later he comes out with the news that he not only has a full blown sinus infection, but it has now taken up residency in both ears and requires an extra-strength eviction notice via antibiotics.

So I drove him home, dropped him off - put the dogs in the car to go for a ride and headed 30 minutes in the opposite direction to go get a prescription filled.


They love car rides - no matter where we go!

The drive up line at CVS went half-way around the building.  So instead of breathing fumes from the car in front of me, I parked and went inside.

That line was not exactly short either, but I got in line and waited my turn.

Finally at the front of the line, giving both his name and birthdate, I was told that the prescription was not ready yet and it would be "Another 15 minutes."  Back to the end of the line I go.

By the time I got back up to the front....ALL of the photo categorizing and deleting and space making had taken place.

It felt like the only real thing I accomplished this day!

Arriving back home with two happy road-trip dogs and wielding the prescribed miracle cure I found this:


OH, NO!!

Why did this plant have to get this bad before it was even in my periphery??  This is why I am not a good houseplant mom.

Oh, the guilt!


This morning...happy again.

Thank heavens.

And please don't notice the dust on my dining table...I didn't notice it until editing this photo of the morning sunlight.  Dirt roads and mountainsides.  We call dust the kiss of nature.  Like fairy dust.  Only more rural.

It was early to bed for everyone - why are days like this so exhausting??

Let's hope today goes better.


Not getting a great start at it though! LOL!

Today is the shortest day of the year.  If that is the case - why do they feel so long?

I'm feeling like we are entering the Winter Slow Down. The problem with slow down is I feel like I am wasting precious time.  Someone explain that to me please?


Progress, progress, progress!

I found these shares on Instagram under our #chilhowiequilt and #quiltvillemystery hashtags!  Remember - if you use other hashtags, I can't find you!  I am only using these two.

Today I will be spending some time getting PART FIVE ready to release on Friday.  

And I hope to get MORE of that blue/chartreuse sewn together.

What do you have going on for this Last-Wednesday-Before-Christmas?


Quiltville Quote of the Day -

It only gets lighter from here folks!
Happy Winter Solstice!


 

26 comments:

  1. "We call dust the kiss of nature. Like fairy dust. Only more rural." When I read this, I laughed 'til I cried!!! I live on a dirt road and can relate to it so much. Thanks for the great start to my day, Bonnie!!!

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  2. Omg! That is the perfect quote! I feel exactly the same. We are going to be in the teens for the high in Texas the next few days. I don’t even want to stir. Hope everyone has a safe weekend.🥶

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  3. So happy the machine guy found you!! Yuck for the hubster... I hope he feels better soon! I am quilting on the machine today... fingers crossed there are no hiccups. I haven't quilted in a couple of months! Ha! Looking forward to clue #5, hopefully I can get caught up with these clues before I head back to work. Happy Wednesday!

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  4. I think it just makes sense to slow down and conserve energy while the days are short. Or even hibernate! Cycles like this are natural, it is the frenzied go go go of modern life that is unnatural!

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  5. It's a foggy, drippy day here in FL which means it's a Chilhowie sewing day!

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  6. such happy happy news! Winter solstice!!! the days will start their turn-around and begin giving us more daylight... huzzah, huzzah...the hubster will experience a miracle -- the antibiotics will kick in and he'll be feeling 'yards' better by the time this is read... huzzah... happy day for the dogs... i know mine loved to leave those noseprints on the windows as they looked back and forth at the landscape and every.single.thing. !!! and you got all those photos organized and your phone cleaned... how can you say it was a do nothing day? Give yourself credit for just getting thru the day, nevermind all the doings that got done, including saving the houseplants and un-dusting the fairy dust! (i'm guessing once the 'wilted one' was discovered, the rest were offered refreshment too... Happy Winter Solstice, i'm hoping the california electeds have indeed followed thru with the feds and after we turn our clocks in spring we will never have to engage in that nonsense again!!! LOL as i age, the changing of clocks becomes more and more difficult in adjusting and the cats are having none of that as an explanation for an absence of dinner! Happy days, i'm waiting for my CraftOptics -- the macular degeneration has degenerated! wrapping this up, weather promises to be warming here in Carlsbad, CA Christmas should be pushing 80*-- removing one quilt from bed!!! As someone else opined -- it's kind of nice to wind down the end of the year and just "coast" from one project to another, being properly grateful for Bonnie Hunter and all the creative people who contribute to my life, as well as those who allow me in theirs... Life is good.

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  7. I am in full Christmas mode right now. Getting all the presents wrapped and gearing up for making more candy (it is all gone since Thanksgiving) and beginning to prep. for Christmas Eve meal with my family. I wrap my presents in my sewing room so I can be close to my fabric.

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    Replies
    1. I love this idea of staying close to your fabric. You made me smile!

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  8. Well here in Mpls. it is -3 and feels like -16, the snow has started and will continue til about 1am. predicting 8 inches of white fluffy stuff. Then winds at 40 to 50 miles an hour tomorrow. So Mother nature says "slow down" in her own way. I guess I will.

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  9. My phrase is: Dust is a protective cover for furniture. LOL.

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  10. Winter is a time of new beginnings. Soon we will begin to reawaken & we'll begin looking forward to the projects & plans we'll bring to fruition over the growing months to come. But first we will have to go through a time of initiations. The time of starting new things & beginning to journeys.

    Happy Winter everyone! Time will fly as never before and we'll be in the throws of frantic Spring :-)

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  11. My Jenny Box gift today is the Pattern with a Perfect saying for how we feel. QUILT MORE- WORRY LESS! Feel better Dave, keep stitching is happening later today. Got a class to learn new things about my Embroidery Machine. Old Brain doesn't help.

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  12. Winter is telling us to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n and recharge. Extra sleep time is good too.

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  13. Dear Bonnie, It's snowing here in Western Wisconsin and it's very, very cold at -4 degrees. We're supposed to get at least 8 inches of snow and it's even going to get colder yet so folks will not be traveling until Christmas. I'm sure glad I went out yesterday to get groceries. I have lots of dust too, and I used to dust my life away. Now I'm busy quilting. I topquilted on Monday, and will put the binding on today so I can get this baby quilt done by Christmas if all goes well. Before I forget, how do you like your Juki? I purchased one too off your affiliate link.

    I'm using my Janome DC2019 until I finish up on this baby quilt project, and then will unbox and set up my new Juki and take her for a test drive once I look over the manual.
    Hope you, your hubster, and the puppies have a wonderful Christmas!
    Roxy in Hudson, WI

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    Replies
    1. I love the Juki so much! Best thing I ever bought this year.

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  14. Great to see Mabel and Zoey again. I've been missing them. Here in Saskatchewan, Canada it is -40 celsius with the wind chill. A great day to hunker in and sew.

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    1. my calculater say -40 C is -40F. It's amazing anything survives at that temp

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  15. dust is a protective coating for furniture....

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  16. Oh my gosh! If I followed today's quote I'd be spending about 8 or 9 months in bed. That would be boring. It looks like we're all going to be cold this weekend. Hope Dave's meds kick in quickly so he's perkier for Christmas.

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  17. Dust? That's what the cats are for! I have construction across the street with lots of red clay dust, and a gravel drive. I finally finished 3 new button-up shirts for my mom in 3 gorgeous quilting fabrics. They stopped by on their way home to Del Rio from Johnson City. My dad spent several hours working on an electrical outlet I couldn't figure out. I feel a little better. lol. Now, 6 stuffed deer, Then on to Chilhowee, finally.

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  18. I am sorry about your husband having to go through the sinus infection that traveled also into his ears. I hope by the time you read my comment that he is feeling better due to the meds. I am still finishing the last sock of the pair that I am knitting for my son-in-law. I will get back to sewing after the holidays.

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  19. That quote at the end was LOL! Wait until you're 80!!

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  20. I'm a Winter Solstice baby, so as a kid I felt cheated with the shortest day of the year, but as a young adult I enjoyed the longest night of the year with gusto. LOL Now at 68, I enjoy slower days and nights, enjoying each day as it comes. Guess I would be hibernating like the bears in winter if I didn't get up until the temperature is more than my age. LOL

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  21. Did my usual Wednesday volunteer act at church and kids classes are ready for the first 8 weeks of 2023!!!

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  22. Bonnie- If I only got out of bed on days that the temp was my age or greater, I would rarely be out of bed in Alaska! Unfortunately, when I get on the computer in the evening, I get sucked in, so it is usually 2am before I am going to sleep. Because it doesn't really get light out until 9am, I just sleep. I am usually doing my exercises by 8am though. I rarely have to be out of bed before then, unless my neighbors have app'ts. I have been their transportation for the last month, as their car is in the shop. So if they have app'ts, it is off to town I go. So, those are also shopping days for me or them, sometimes both. Next week he has more heat app'ts, so those will be longer days. I have a sewing machine in the shop, so I will check on that, too. These days do wear me out, and I am dragging before 9pm.

    Have a Very Merry Christmas, and Hope Dave is feeling better. I had a sinus infection a couple months ago, but my ears weren't involved.

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  23. I so LOVE reading your posts!! I always feel so good after reading them. Thank you for lifting us all up and keeping us going!!

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