Tuesday, March 6, 2007

I'll never keep up with my reading now

I emailed pictures to myself at work this morning so I could post during lunch. When I tried to bring up Blogger I discovered - to my horror! - that the new firewall installed over the weekend now blocks all "newsgroups and discussion lists", which includes all blogs. When you work for a financial institution you accept the fact that Internet restrictions will exist because the member database computer must be protected from viruses at all costs. This, however, seems a little extreme. Blogs aren't deemed to be "of business use" and are therefore blocked. During work sure - but lunch time?

Anyway - lunch is when I did most of my blog reading. Now it must be at home, and I'll have to choose between reading and sewing. A terrible dilemma? I'll still read all I can, but I'll have to be less generous with my comments. I hate to do that! Another reason for the fabric diet and a big push for retirement!

I'm back to typing with 10 fingers all of the time - thank goodness, as larg bandages result in terrible typos - and have only a small band-aid on my finger. I can now get it wet - no more showers with my hand in a plastic bag! I spent 2 1/2 hours cutting scraps last night and don't have that much to show for it. I keep telling myself lots and lots went into both the string and the crumb box. Also big square and rectangular hunks of leftover strip sets went into the orphan block drawer. That left the meager collection of squares, bricks and triangles you see here. The pile of ironed scraps doesn't look that big - but let me tell you - take your estimated time to cut your scraps and multiply it by a number between 5 and 10 to get the real number of hours it will take. I'm trying to do at least two, 15-minute sessions a day. One in the morning when I'm usually on the computer, and one while dinner is cooking before evening activities begin. Hopefully those short segments of time will result in a much smaller stack by the weekend - a stack I can easily finish by the end of the weekend to come.

In the pictures you see my string box (with the last bin of scraps hiding below it), my crumb box, my stack of pressed fabrics still to cut up, and my meager piles of cut shapes. I think it's a good thing the piles are so meager - there is next to no room left in any of my "shape boxes".

I'm dreaming of all the wonderful scrap quilts I'll piece once I'm finished with this cutting. The possibilities are almost endless. It's going to be so hard to choose - and so much fun choosing and stitching! I can hardly wait!
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Gratitudes:
1. A wonderful warm day of 65 degrees
2. An old friend from work has returned to work for us again
3. An excellent steak for dinner
4. New pictures of Sophie
5. New challenges at work
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13 comments:

Quilts And Pieces said...

I"m so behind on blog reading too. Work has kept me too busy also. And gee, I just read about your finger. I forgot about that too!

Holly said...

Ouch! Sorry about your finger mishap but I'm glad to hear you can type and cut again.

I know what you mean about having a hard time choosing which scrap quilt to work on first. I'm contemplating which one I want to work on when my string x is done. I'll be watching to see what becomes of your scraps.

Helen said...

I know what you mean! I miss a day and I have 157 posts to read! (Thankfully some of them are like the last 25 posts that someone has done. I don't understand why that happens!)

Glad your finger is healing and a great excuse for sorting. I'm asking myself why I keep something with 1/2" edge as well!

Carol said...

Well Patti they just don't understand that Blog reading at lunch is good for your mental health...you are doing a phenomenal job with your scraps.

Sweet P said...

I can read blogs at work, but our firewall doesn't let you post. How does that work?

Keep up the good work on the scrap cutting and soon you'll have many, many piles of shapes to make quilts.

Darlene said...

You will definitely have lots of terrific scrap quilts soon!

I'm sorry you can no longer "play blogger" during your lunch hour! I don't seem to have trouble leaving comments; I just can't seem to respond to the comments left for me! :-(

Susan said...

It really is hard to keep a balance between blogging and quilting when you spend so many hours at work. We do keep trying though.

Thanks for the pictures of your cutting sessions. I am still fine tuning my space to accommodate the wonderful ideas I gleaned from you.

I am always amazed at how much I can accomplish if I spend 15 minutes a day on a task that I have been putting off.

Leslie said...

You've written the post & provided pictures for the very thing that's going on at my house. How did you know?? =)

I also try to do 15 minute spots, helps minimize the pain & fatigue I get in my neck & shoulders from so many sewing related activities. I bring a mini scrap cutting 'kit' to work and cut squares and strips on my lunch hour. I go in the organizations' kitchen where the counter is just about the right height. It's a great conversation starter!

Judy said...

I agree that lunch should be your time, but I will say that my hubby's company just spent 2 weeks re-doing the system because somebody downloaded something bad in an email or something.

Even though I don't work, it's hard to decide between spending 3 hours on the computer..which flies by...or sewing. You sew and you neglect the blogs and comments. You spend the time on the computer and you want to sew!!

Don't woory about me. I know you are there reading. I just like to see the posts! Oh and the stacks of fabulous scraps all neat and cut!! You will get them all cut with time!

McIrish Annie said...

Hi Patti,
Bad bloglines did not let me know until NOW (Wednesday) that you had a big bad boo-boo!! Sorry to hear about that but congrats on pushing through and getting all of those scraps managed. I have a couple of big holding bins that need attention but I'm afraid to open them!! I swear they mate in the dark!

Anyway, sorry to hear about your finger and that firewall. Luckily, I work for a small place and that is not a problem because I do my reading at lunch too!!

Jenni said...

What worries me about scrap cutting is that what if I want that (intact) piece of fabric in the future for some particular width strip or square? How do you know how to cut it? I don't know that I can just do it randomly like that??

Libby said...

Sounds like you have a good plan prepared to put into place (wow - that was a lot of p's) I should really think about a better scrap management system. I'm still sort of enjoying the dig out, cut, and return to the pile method . . . one day.

Lily Mulholland said...

Patti - it's really hard to balance everything! I can't blog or read blogs at work either and I am so tired by the end of the day that it's a choice between blogging, sewing or flopping on the couch. Flopping has been winning out lately!

We'll all still be here.

Great work on getting so organised with your scraps. That hard work will no doubt pay off with lots of lovely scrap quilts!