English Paper Piecing

When someone said to me that I might enjoy English Paper piecing, I immediately said that wasn’t going to happen because I don’t like hand sewing. Well, I guess I am going to have to say that English Paper Piecing (EPP) has changed my feeling about hand sewing. 

There are some simple things that I can say about EPP:

• It’s relaxing
• It’s repetitive
• It’s meditative

These are just three things that I can say about EPP and yes, it is all that are more. It is bringing back a technique that was popular many, many years go. Making things using the scarps of fabric that you had was something that people did. You could end up with a quilt that was for a bed, and it could contain parts of shirts, dresses, tops, etc. and it was a way of repurposing something that either didn’t fit any longer or parts of it were worn out.

The difference between EPP many years ago and now is we cut up good fabric to make it into the various quilts or other items that we want to make. Yes, sometimes a quilt or throw can be a memory quilt, and it is made using the shirts, etc. of someone that has passed away. I am currently working on three memory quilts from shirts from my stepfather. Yes, it can a bit of a emotional challenge when you think about the various shirts but at least knowing that you are able to make something out of the shirts is a good feeling.

I started trying to do English Paper Piecing in 2019 and then really started to do it in 2021 after my stepfather passed away. It then mostly went away while I was dealing with my mom having health issues and passing away. Now that things are getting back to normal, I have found myself reaching for my EPP more than my cross stitch which for me is so different. EPP has brought a calm to me and that is what is making me happy.

I don’t know how long it will be something that I pick up first before something else, but I am going to enjoy the joy and I know that there are things that I have learned in the last couple of weeks that have made it work even better.

Being the head of a booth

There are so many times people will look at me and think that being a head of a both has a lot of extra benefits, but I am going to tell you there aren’t the benefits that you think might be part of the job. In my case, being the female that is a head of a booth at a cybersecurity event there are going to be challenges as that is just the start of it. 

So being the head of the booth has the different roles and responsibilities that need to be done, these are the external roles:

1. Ensure all the booth staff are registered as both booth and briefing pass.
2. Ensure that all obligations are met and provide the necessary proof.
3. Ensure that the information able for the website is completed when the website is made public.
4. Ensure extra pass has been given to someone that will be able to benefit from the pass.
5. Follow-up with the event staff to ensure everyone is being completed and any questions answered.

Internal roles

1. Ensure that a team is available to help with the booth during the event.
2. Register everyone for both the booth pass and the briefing pass (you may need customer support to help with this.)
3. Communicate with the team to ensure everyone is up to speed with what has been happening.
4. Send out a message to get everyone to select the sessions that they would like to attend making sure ask for priority because it never fails all the team wants to attend session at the same time.
5. Schedule everyone for both time at the booth, sessions and breaks and be prepared things might happen that will affect this schedule. (I have seen this happen and it can be a challenge).
6. Set up the booth with the help of the staff to ensure that it is ready the day before the show opens as this is an event specific requirement.
7. Communicate with the team the location of the booth and the schedule (flexible schedule) for the event.
8. Attend the event and deal with issues and know that you will get through it.
9. End of event, make sure that you pack up your booth within the allocated time and know that you will be probably doing it again next year.

So, yes there are a lot of responsibilities that are required when being the head of a booth, but at the end of the two days, there is the joy of walking out of the booth with the team that has been there and saying we did it and are you ready to do it again next year?

Don't compare my world to your world

There are times when people think that everyone is dealing with the same thing and I will probably be the first person to say you don’t know what anyone else is dealing with. I have heard too many times someone say to me, “I know what you are dealing with” without hearing what I am dealing with as they just assume that they know.

The overall thing that everyone needs to understand is that we don’t know what the next person is going through and we have to be there as an individual that can be there to support them and listen to their challenges and help them when possible. I know that I have had individuals come up to me and they just want to ask questions and see what my experiences have been.

What I have learned through this is I have to be there to listen to the individual and maybe tell them my experiences, but the biggest thing is I need to be there to listen and support them through what I have learned. I would never compare what we have been through for what someone else is going through because each journey is different.

Yes, I can give advise on how I handled some of the challenges but again it is each family’s journey and challenges that they have to deal with themselves. I will let people know to ensure that there are power of attorney personal and financial that there should have and then also make sure that there is will in place and make sure someone has access to the bank account. (Warning, make sure that the power of attorney is also not the sole beneficiary of the accounts)

Each journey is so different, and you cannot compare your journey to anyone else other than to say it’s going to be a very long journey. We are currently just under two years after my mom passed away and we are currently waiting for the clearance certificate to arrive so that we can finally close her bank accounts.

My biggest piece of advice is never to tell anyone “I know hat you have gone through” because unless you are part of what they have done through you don’t exactly what they went through or going through

Managing your schedule when things get in the way

So many of use work with some sort of schedule, so that our work doesn’t take all the available time that we have. Being self-employed can be a bit of a challenge because there are things that can get in the way of maintaining a good schedule. Here are a few things that can impact your schedule, and you will have to deal with them.

Maintenance schedule where you live means you don’t have power

            If you live in an apartment or condo and work from home, you might deal with this. There are going to be some power maintenance therefore that means if you work on a laptop and connect to client sites you are either going to have to wait until the maintenance is complete or find another location to work.

You don’t have water

            If you live in an apartment or condo and work from home, you will have to deal with this issue. Most are planned but there can be times when something breaks and you don’t have water. For planned maintenance you will have to figure out a work around for this situation. You might be able to stay and work, or you are going to have to find another location to work.

Noise around you are too much for your focus

            This one can happen anywhere, and you need to figure out how to handle it and that is loud conversations around you that can distract you and interfere with what you are working on. I know for me, I use my earplugs that helps me reduce the voices, but it doesn’t block them out totally so that can impact how I am getting the work done.

            Something that can also impact how you get your work done is construction sounds around you. Now this one is hard to deal with because it can impact you if you work in an office or remotely. Construction sounds can really interfere with your focus because it is something that you cannot control. Your option is to find a different location to do your work if possible.

Others think you have time to help them

            This is especially true when you own your own business. Some people think all your time is your time, and you can drop everything to help them out during the day. Sure, sometimes you can work around the demands of your job to help someone out especially in an emergency, but you can’t do it all the time.

 

Managing your schedule can be difficult with the things around you impact what you are trying to accomplish. I know that for us we try and work a normal schedule but there are times when things have to shift due to the things that are happening around us. Our schedule can also shift if a client needs work done off the normal workday. So, managing a normal schedule can be a bit of a challenge but you just do your best and get everything done.

My purse size matters

For a lot of women, the size of their purse really does matter. Some women don’t even carry a purse and would rather use a knapsack to carry everything especially when they are commuting to work. The knap is a great idea especially if you are also carrying a device back and forth to work. In other cases, some women only have their mobile device with a case on it that holds what they need to carry. 

Now for me I have different purses and bags, and they all have different purposes and sometimes the purse/bag is to meet a need especially when it comes to going to events. Here are the sizes of purses that I have and use.

Small one great for quick trips and going to concerts

• My small purse holds, my keys, wallet, EpiPen and my glasses. This purse is great for going to concerts as a lot of venues have a size restriction on what is allowed. It’s always a good idea to check the venue restrictions before you get there as you might be surprised what you can take and not take.

Medium one great for most of the time

• My medium purse is great for most of the time, and it will carry everything that the small purse carries but I also need to be able to carry one of my journaling books in it. This is the type of purse that I use most of the time because it carries what I need and isn’t too large.

Large one is wonderful when I want to carry a lot of stuff with me

• My large purse is really when I have lots of things that I want to carry with me. I have used a women’s computer laptop bag as a purse when I had lots of things that I wanted to carry. Now this purse/bag needs to hold everything that the medium purse does, but it also needs to hold a water bottle as well as my tablet and portable keyboard.

Yes, my purses all have different purposes and lately I have been using a small purse and what I have realized is that I end up having to put this purse into another bag when going some places so that I can take the water bottle and journal book with me. I know that I could change the purse to a larger one, but I have been enjoying the small purse for going shopping and things like that.

I know some women have one purse that they use all the time and they enjoy doing that. For me, I guess it depends on what I am trying to achieve at a specific time. I am currently loving the smaller purse as it is a lot lighter to carry most of the time and yes, I can easily put it inside a larger bag when I need the extra stuff.

 

Knitting project bag

 Recently I have been looking for a project bag for my knitting and crocheting projects that I can use when we are travelling. I am finding it difficult to find something that I think that will work for me. If I could find something that works, I think it would help me want to work on my knitting and crocheting projects a little more when we are travelling.

Here are some of the things that I would like to have in my project bag:

• Self standing bag with at least 4 or more internal pockets for 100-gram balls of yarn each
• Central area for the project
• Closed top
• Area for the extra supplies, scissors, etc
• Handles, shoulder or backpack
• Grommets not needed, would prefer not having them (won’t be pulling my yarn through the grommets as how do I put the project into the bag and close it with yarn looping back into the bag)
• Black, grey or navy preferred not floral or bright colours
• Doesn’t look like a cooler

Yes, I know that the list is rather long of what I would like my project bag to be. One of the things that I want to be able to do is have all the yarn for a project together or at least a large percentage of the material all in one place. Right now, when I am working on a shawl with multiple colours or skeins, I find it difficult to keep them all in one place unless I throw everything into a shopping bag.

I have spent quite a bit of time looking for a bag that I like and currently haven’t found anything that really looks like what I envision for me to use on a regular basis. Being able to have a current project organized and ready to work on would be great and maybe seeing that everything is all in one place would be nice.

One of the reasons I am looking at buying a knitting project bag is for when we are travelling and I can everything organized in a way that I can keep things in the bag and it is easy to carry. The other reason I am looking for a bag like this is I would like something that I can use to help me manage my project. Yes, I know having a project bag like I am looking for is something that isn’t absolutely needed but it would mean that maybe I would be a little more organized when on the go.

Be aware of emails you get from your own business

Are you receiving emails that don’t seem to make sense because they are from accounts that don’t exist in your company? These are emails that you need to think about but not open and especially not reply to. Normally the display that is showing has nothing to do with your business and it is just away to try and get some credentials.

How many times have you received an email from an account that you don’t remember being part of the list of users that you have for your business. If you are a small business, you probably don’t have a bunch of accounts that maybe some larger business has such as:

• accounting@
• hr@
• helpdesk@
• invoices@
• finance@
• IT@ 

These are just a few examples of account addresses that you might receive an email from and those are probably not accounts that you use. So, if you are receiving an email from any of these accounts the first thing you need to do is not open the email and the second thing is if you happen to open the email, DO NOT REPLY to the message.

Even as a small business I have received emails from those accounts and I laugh because there are only two of us in our business and we definitely don’t have email accounts such as the ones listed above. Quite often when you dig a little deeper it is someone trying to get you to do something like provide them with personal information such as date of birth, address and even your social insurance number.

So, when you receive an email that looks odd make sure that you DON’T REPLY to it and if possible don’t open it at all. These emails need to be reported to IT when possible. If you are a small business and don’t have an IT department, make sure you report them to the individual that is responsible for the email account set up.