Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Winter seems to be back today – if, in fact, we’ve actually had any winter this year. Snow was predicted for this afternoon and, while I ate lunch, I watched it coming in over the water from the Island. So far it is only sticking on the rooftops – at least on the rooftop next door. I suspect if it keeps up at this rate it may stick to the roads and sidewalks later in the day.

I’m glad I got out for my walk this morning. We were going to go out yesterday but it was so windy and cold that we went for a drive instead. Pat needed to drop a couple of guitars off for repair. We seldom take any of the backroads that I’d love to explore but just being out (and in the warmth of the truck) was nice.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time over the past few days on my chickens. I’ve used a few fancier stitches on this block thanks to the new stitch book I purchased. Nothing too fancy but I’m enjoying it – for me the hardest part is settling down to start.

I’ve finished, except for the binding, my March card (just one birthday in March). I thought I might save the binding for my Thursday sewing visit but I think I’ll go ahead and do it now so I can cross it off my list.

I’m making excellent progress on the afghan. There’s another hockey game tonight so I’ll be even closer to a finish.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

I went out to the back deck to put away some recycling and noticed the first bit of colour in our crocuses. It felt like a sure sign of Spring but then Pat was looking at the forecast and there is a chance of snow this week. Since the crocuses are in a pot on the deck they should be fine.

I spent the morning doing some accounting work. We’re getting lots of mail these days as the T4s and T5s and all the other receipts come in. The accountant has sent out her notice about tax prep so it was time for me to catch up on Pat’s accounting. It shouldn’t be so difficult to keep it up to date but I put it off as long as I can. All done now though so I can take it off the list.

I got some prep work done for my March birthday cards and, hopefully, I’ll get one put together tomorrow. My April notifications will be coming up in a few days so I should at least try to get the March cards off the list. I got an early reveal of the March UFO Challenge – a scrap quilt from a pattern I got from Stacia (Pinwheels for Caroline).

I’ve taken a few stitches on my chicken block. As I said to Pat, it would go a lot faster if I didn’t take everything out at least twice before I was satisfied with the look. I wish the pattern told you what stitches to use where. No guarantee but I think I could learn a new stitch if I knew the best place to put it. The stitches are all new to me and I’m not very creative with them. At times I wish I had just stuck with whip stitching the pieces onto the background but it is too late for that now.

I’d better get back to it.

Saturday, February 24, 2024

It’s been awhile since I checked in. The days go by quickly, whether or not I actually accomplish anything.

When I’ve had the energy I’ve worked in my sewing room. I have my Stash Buster top finished, as well as the top for my February UFO Challenge. I also have another block almost finished for my postage stamp quilt. One block down but a lot more to go. I must be making progress on something though as I have two bins that are empty and nothing to put in them – for now.

I started cleaning up my sewing room this morning. Most of the clutter is either hidden or put away. I listed a few items for sale on a local site; these are items that I put on another site but had no luck selling. I’ve already had someone interested in some of the items so I’m hopeful they won’t go back into my stash.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading – the books from the library keep rolling in and while I’m picking up books from the hold area I’m scouting the shelves for other books I’ve put in my list. I need to get back into the habit of reading in the afternoon as I found I was really making progress on my pile.

I seem to be avoiding my chickens and my graduation gift but I must get back to both of them. I did some rearranging of my threads this morning. I’m not sure it will make me stitch any faster but at least I felt like I’d paid some attention to the two projects.

I started to crochet an afghan and it is already almost half done. We’ve been watching curling and hockey and a new series on Prime so there has been lots of TV time. In digging out the yarn for this project I emptied another bin from the basement. I’m hoping to move the one from downstairs and the empty one from across the hall and find room to incorporate them into my sewing room. But that will wait for another day.

Now, before I lose my mojo I’m going to work on my chickens. Hockey late this afternoon so more crochet tonight.

Monday, February 19, 2024

It’s a holiday today but since I’ve retired long weekends don’t mean the same as they once did. That being said, I’m having a rather slow day and not really getting a lot done.

We got home just after lunch yesterday and for the rest of the day I pretended I was still relaxing on Texada. I unpacked but I didn’t necessarily put everything away. I read in the afternoon – my books from the library were all finished so I had time to pick up one of my own books that I had already started. I’m picking up two more from the library tomorrow afternoon.

It was an early hockey game today so with the bit of time I had this morning I sorted out fabrics for some of the “almost done” projects I have. I cut the first border for my Stash Buster quilt and found (after a lot of looking) the fabric for the second border.

I sorted out the remaining crochet cotton I had left from my tablecloth. I’ll see if I can sell it locally; if not I’ll probably put it back in the bin for something else. I hadn’t picked out another “while we watch TV project” since I finished my tablecloth. I thought I was going to knit the wool I purchased in Ireland into a wall hanging but since I was altering the pattern on that one I decided on something relatively mindless. I’ve started another afghan; once I pulled the yarn for it I was able to empty another bin. I can’t believe how much yarn I still have left though – at least two more afghans for sure.

After the game I numbered all of my 1880 Sampler blocks so I’ll know which of my blocks match the blocks in the layout I’m following. I also cut all the sashing and binding for that project.

I’ll get my bin ready for sewing tomorrow and then do some more reading.