Saturday Musings -- Podcasts while quilting?

I am not a big fan of silence—maybe it's because I never had kids ;-)—but I need something going on in the background, particularly when I am quilting. 

I have a small TV in my quilting studio that I inherited when my parents downsized a few years back.  But I can't really watch something that takes a lot of paying attention, particularly visually.  So after watching what seemed like every episode, of every season of Blue Bloods and Law & Order SVU, I started on Netflix documentaries.  It was hit or miss, as I never quite knew when I started how much attention it would require.  

Then it struck me ... podcasts.  I have been a podcast listener for years, mostly when I am running, hiking solo, or when we're driving on longer trips.  Why not when I am quilting?

It's awesome!  I bluetooth my iPhone to a small, portable speaker that I had purchased for our T@b Trailer trips, and I am off to the races.  It works perfectly.  I started with the standard podcast app on my iPhone, but was having trouble with it on playback, so I switched to a free, down-loadable app called Overcast, which works great.  

I find that the podcasts keep my mind engaged, but because there is no visual, it doesn't detract from the work that I am doing with the quilt, whether it be piecing, ironing or quilting.  When I am doing the quilting part, I sometimes will wear a pair of noise-cancelling earphones instead of the speaker, as it can get a little noisy.  

What do I listen to?  I'll spare you the political podcasts, as I am sure there are many different preferences on those, but I have found a whole list of other podcasts that I enjoy, including:

• —How I built this
• —Freakonomics Radio
• —The Moth
• —Code Switch
• —Planet Money
• —Side Hustle School
• —Sword and Scale (recommended by my nieces, it can get a little gruesome)
• —Wait Wait Don't Tell Me 

I even listened to Dan Carlin's 20-hour Blueprint for Armageddon podcast about WWI before we made our trip to WWI & II battlefields and towns in France in late 2017.  Fascinating stuff.

Again, I have no relationship, financial or otherwise, with Overcast, the Doss Speaker or any of the podcasts that I have listed above. 

What do you watch/listen to when you're quilting?  If you're already a podcast listener, love to hear what you enjoy listening to!

All the best,

Lisa