Saturday, June 24, 2017

I’ve been working all day but I haven’t accomplished much. I slept in so I had to leave for my hair appointment right after breakfast. From there I stopped at the Credit Union with another Cranberry Hall deposit. When I got home I pulled a few weeds because I wanted to test my killing-vinegar solution; some of the weeds pulled out easily but I think some of the others may need another dose.

In case you are wondering I found my missing pattern last night. How it got into a bin with some table runner kits (and a Winnie The Pooh cloth book) I’ll never know. I planned to take it to the Island to work on but now that I’ve read the instructions I think it is better done at home. That won’t be a problem time-wise because I’ll be moving my Bingo quilt to the back burner as Dylan and Taylor won’t be able to come up at the end of August as I had hoped. It will be ready and waiting for next year though.

I had three embroidery projects that I wanted to get ready for either our trip to Calgary or for the Island. I’m thinking now that they might be better left for our Island trip; if we take carryon luggage it is always a mystery whether or not they will allow my scissors and needles. I traced the patterns and have my threads picked; I’m going to use pearl cotton rather than floss for these particular pieces.

I really wanted to get the upstairs cleaned up today but I might not get that done. My sewing room is almost there but the kids playroom (my cross stitching room) is a disaster. Before I go any further though I have to get Christy’s birthday present ready for the mail on Monday.

Friday, June 23, 2017

This morning we loaded up the truck with bags and bags of yard waste and headed out to the dump. It was a messy (and smelly) job but it was good to get it done. When I got home I headed out to cut the lawn and the boulevard. When that was done I decided to clean up the lower front patio so we can get the hammocks set up; that involved cleaning up some stuff that went either to the garbage or the recycle bin. I’ve wanted to try spraying the weeds between the patio blocks with vinegar and, since there was no wind today, I sprayed a test patch. It it works, we’re going to need a lot more vinegar. Now that I’m taking more of an interest in the yard I see things that I previously ignored.

While we had lunch on the deck I told Pat about a Row-by-Row pattern I had that would be perfect for the Cranberry 75th and Canada 150 celebration we are hosting in August. I ran upstairs to get the pattern to show to him and I’ve spent the rest of the afternoon looking for it. I still don’t know where it is and all my searches have been pointless other than to underline the fact that I have too much stuff.

Remember back when I was doing an inventory of patterns, kits, etc. That definitely cured my “need” to purchase any more fabrics or quilting kits. At that time I also made a spreadsheet of where the different patterns and kits were stashed (the cedar chest, the wicker basket, individual bins, etc.). When a quick look through the bins at hand revealed nothing I looked at the spreadsheet; the kit should be in the “Small Projects” bin. It took me awhile to find that particular bin but when I looked at the contents that particular row-by-row wasn’t in there. I’m sure, with Canada 150 coming up, I kept that particular project out so I would “get at it” sooner rather than later.

As I’m moving around the room looking for the pattern I’m doing a bit of tidying up and putting-away; clearly it is badly needed!

Thursday, June 22, 2017

My plan for today was to finish all the sewing I wanted done before our trip. I have enough Bingo blocks done that we can test out the game when the kids are here; the hard part is yet to come though as I need to come up with “Under the Blue/Red/Green/Yellow/Orange” clues. As I was stitching I was thinking about this and because there are 3 kids and 5 blocks I need to be sure that I have enough clues for someone to win regardless of which blocks are in play. I also realized that the blocks (and the quilt when it is done) can work as an “I Spy” game. Hopefully my grandchildren won’t all be teenagers when this particular project is finished!

It didn’t take me long to finish the filing for Cranberry Hall; I could have done it all yesterday. I’m about to go out and make the final deposit before our trip. After that is done I can get the last report ready for the meeting we are hosting the evening after we get home.

I’m counting down to the day we leave but I have so many more tasks to finish before then – prepping some hand work, cleaning my sewing room, and I guess packing should come in there somewhere.

I’m off to a recital tonight. One of the Tuesday quilters, and a regular at our House Concerts, invited me to her recital – she plays guitar. She has been taking lessons for a couple of years and I admire her for continuing to practice (unlike my Ukulele) and for having the nerves to feel okay about performing. I remember my piano recital days – and none of those memories are pleasant!