Monday, November 12, 2018

I had a wonderful weekend at the retreat. It was nice to get to know my house guest a little better – we had a good time and never ran out of conversation. We slept at the studio but other than that we were hardly there. I bought a new memory foam mattress topper and Moreen was the first to try it out. It was nicer to set up than the air mattress and, apparently, it was very comfortable.

The best of our conversations was on the way back home – it turns out that Moreen would also like to hike the Sunshine Coast Trail; she’s actually done parts of it on the annual Marathon Shuffle so she’ll be a natural guide for me. They also have a boat so they can get us to the start of the trail at Sarah Point, a few miles from Lund. The whole trail can be done in sections and, if we had to stay out overnight, there are huts all along the way. She is in the middle of a kitchen reno but as soon as that is finished we’ll start walking together with a goal to doing the trail during the Spring and Summer next year. In light of those plans I spent a bit of time on the treadmill today. It was a nice day out but I have a book I need to get finished (because I have a short loan of another book from the library) so I was able to read while I walked.

Most of my day was spend unpacking my numerous bags from the weekend and putting things away. I managed to get at a bit of sewing this afternoon and I’ll do a bit more before supper. While I worked I started my Christmas playlist from iTunes but it wasn’t working for me – I guess it is still too early. My quilting playlist is working much better for me (Leonard Cohen is playing right now).

Here are a few of the things I worked on this weekend (click each one to enlarge).

Thursday, November 8, 2018

I spent all morning re-thinking and re-cutting fabric for my half-square triangles. I’m following a pattern now and it needed a lot more than I had originally planned on making. The quilt will end up smaller than the one in the book but it will be plenty big enough for a donation quilt. I was glad that I had several pre-cut scraps in the sizes I needed.

The first of Splendid Sampler’s Sew-the-Book blocks were released today. I intended to package the block up to take with me but instead of one block, or maybe the two I expected, four new blocks were released. At four blocks a week I’m going to have a hard time keeping up but the organizers reminded us today that it is not a race, it is a journey.

I worked on sashing my Farmer’s Wife Sampler blocks today – two more rows done. I have one more long row to do (13 blocks) and then each row gets smaller. I still need to add the cornerstones and sashing between the rows but I’ll keep this as my Thursday project until I see a need to speed things up.

I have all my projects packed, hopefully all my tools, and a few treats. We’re off to Texada on the 8:30 ferry tomorrow – I expect to be back on Sunday afternoon. I’ve decided NOT to take my iPad with me so I’ll be completely off-line for the weekend; it worked at the lake so I think I will be able to manage for a few days.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

When I got up this morning there were no plans for the day – it felt like a day off. I worked on a Farmer’s Daughter block while I had my morning coffee. I came upstairs to check my mail and Facebook and decided today would be a good day to get my hair cut – having it shorter for the retreat weekend would be nice. After a soak in the tub and a bit of time reading my book I went back to my hand stitching. The end is in sight and I’m so ready to be done with it.

My hair appointment was right after lunch and I picked the salon based on its location – close to the Library and the grocery store. I’ve been there before but I had a different stylist this time; same cut as usual though. After my appointment I walked to the Library to pick up a book I had on order. When I went to check out I couldn’t find my card and their computers were down so they couldn’t look it up. I took a bunch of cards out of my wallet when I was travelling and I guess (I hope) I didn’t put them back in. I’ll have to go back tomorrow to pick up the book.

On my way back to the grocery store I passed by a new-to-me pharmacy. I’ve been getting really bad leg and foot cramps and a nurse I know suggested I might be low on potassium. I know that bananas have potassium (they are about #6 on the list I looked at) but when I looked up other foods there are some that I eat regularly and some I never eat. So I stopped and got ten days worth of potassium tablets; hopefully they will help. Next stop was for a few groceries for the house here and a few things to take over to the Retreat, but it was a quick trip.

I’ll get back to my hand stitching for the rest of the afternoon. I think I can finish my knitting project tonight.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Before the time change I was often up at 5:30 in the morning, and I was usually in bed reading until 11 PM. With the time change my body is still on the same rhythm – I’m awake at 4:30 in the morning and falling asleep reading at 10 PM. I’m not sure what it will take to get me back on my usual track. I admit that being up at 4:30 allowed me to get a lot done before heading off to the bee. I sorted through the recycle and took two bins to the depot; I sorted the cans and bottles and took more than $6 to the bottle depot. I stopped at Safeway and picked up some water for the studio in anticipation of my trip on the weekend. I almost feel like I could go to bed now, or at least have a nap, but I’ll struggle through for a few more hours. Maybe the shock of late nights at the retreat will get me back on track.

I’ve had another change of plan for this weekend retreat. Originally the person who is staying at the studio was going to drive; I planned to go to the studio on the weekend and make sure things were tidied up and a bit of furniture moved around so there was a little more room for hide-a-bed to open. Last Thursday she told me she wouldn’t have room for both of us (and our stuff) in her truck so I decided to stay home on the weekend and head to the studio on Thursday night. Then I decided (on my own) that I would go over on Wednesday and skip my usual Thursday stitching. Today at the bee the plans had changed again – now there apparently would be room for both of us and our stuff in her truck. So the new plan is that we’ll head over on Friday morning, stop and unload a few things at the studio and then head to the hall where we hold the retreat. I won’t have a chance to do any tidying or re-arranging or even make the bed, but I’m glad not to be driving.

The problem with packing too far in advance of the retreat is that I’ve had time to change my mind about a project. I was going to do some half-square triangles (using the new method) using just scraps but now I think I want to have them a little more organized – a colour with a neutral shade. I have time to cut a few more squares tomorrow and I’ll also be able to prep this week’s Splendid Sampler block.

Some things don’t change though – I’m going to continue my knitting project tonight.