Monthly Archives: September 2021

A bit of a few things

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

The weather this morning didn’t look very promising for getting out on the step to sandwich Kathryn’s tablecloth but by lunch time the sun was shining and I got it done. Before I got to that though I did a bit more scanning and shredding from Christy’s bin. I’m making progress and I think I’m about half done.

I ordered the first in a new-to-me series from the inter-library loan program as well as putting a book from our library on hold.

I also did more cutting for the Guild’s mystery. I think I’m going to have to go shopping for some more fabric; I have enough fabric for the rest of the cutting but I don’t have enough variety. There is an advantage to having already made the quilt once; I’d prefer to use only the fabric from my stash but that didn’t work out so well the first time around so I’m being a bit more picky this time.

It was still too early to quit for the day when the sandwiching was done so I started on my latest clue for my Peppermint Purple project. It is a complicated one this week and I’m having trouble getting my eyes to focus on the pattern and then back to the stitching. Pat has an online event tonight and I’m hopeful I can get it finished up before we settle in for some TV.

I finished crocheting my afghan last night and tonight I will darn in the ends.

The Other Side of the Bridge

Author: Mary Lawson

This is the fourth Lawson book I’ve read and this one was my favourite. Maybe it is because some of the characters were familiar names from other books, or maybe because it was the longest. The author’s stories aren’t complicated and her characters are people you might easily know or meet.

Arthur and Jake are brothers but they couldn’t be any different in personalities. Arthur, although he is forced to stay in school, would much rather be working the farm with his father. Jake will do almost anything to avoid work of any kind. When they are young men Jake suffers a terrible accident that Arthur blames himself for.

As with her other books there are three main characters; the third in this case is Ian who, many years later, has come to work with Arthur on the farm. When Jake reappears it sets in motion another series of events that lead to disastrous consequences.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Thank you

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Thank you to everyone for the good wishes on my birthday yesterday. I had a lovely day – lots of phone calls and messages, some hand stitching, some reading and a Subway supper with a DQ ice cream cake.

We made a tough decision yesterday – we won’t be going to Calgary for Thanksgiving. We have been watching the number of Covid cases in Alberta climb but we were still planning our trip until Elizabeth asked us to consider postponing until Christmas. She was also concerned about the numbers but mainly worried about the lack of hospital beds should we get sick from Covid or any other emergency. I think we all felt better once we made the decision and, hopefully, by Christmas things in both our provinces will have settled down.

Today I was back to “normal”. I caught up on some paperwork this morning and did a bit more shredding. Some of the photos Christy didn’t want were headed to the shredder but I couldn’t shred them without scanning them first; that took up some time. I have another batch ready to scan tomorrow, as well as a pile of papers that will be shredded.

I fully intended to join the Guild Zoom check-in today at noon but I couldn’t find a link that worked. I haven’t joined in since they started up after the summer so perhaps they have made some changes that I didn’t know about. I sorted out the first clue for the mystery quilt I am running and picked out my fabric. I thought I was going to have to start the mystery in October but I decided to combine some of the clues into one so it won’t start until November and the last clue will be released in May. That gives lots of catching up time before the show and tell next June.

After lunch it was time to do a few of my errands. I had prescriptions to pick up at the drug store; they were busy and it wasn’t as quick as it usually is. From there I went to the library and renewed my card for another three years and picked up a book from an inter-library loan. After that it was a drop off at the bank and then home.

I cut out the back and the front of the tablecloth I’m making for Kathryn. I’ll have to wait for a nicer day to get out on the step and sandwich them. I didn’t intend to start cutting for my mystery but I have one of the fabrics cut into 5″ squares. Lots more cutting to do; I’ll do it a bit at a time to save my wrists.

Now I’m ready to quit for the day and head downstairs to finish my book. If we have a long enough evening I may be able to get my afghan finished too.

Having fun

September 19, 2021

I try to win a game of Solitaire every day; I’ll try three times in a row and unless I win I move on to something more productive and try again the next time I need a break. This morning I won the first game I played so I needed something else to fill my time. I have a bin of shredding to do (thanks Christy) so I moved on to that task but the shredder had stopped working. I figured it was just full but even after I emptied it I still couldn’t make it work. From the bottom the shredder looked clear but I could see from the top that it was plugged. So I got out my letter opener and started digging (after unplugging it of course). It wasn’t until I got out my Swiss Army Knife that I was able to dig everything out and get it working.

Did you or your kids ever play with these? The original name was Perler Beads but mine came from the dollar store so were called Melty Beads. I dug them out when Dylan and Tayler were here but they weren’t interested. My intention was to add them to the thrift store bag but when I moved the box I scattered beads all over so I knew I needed to package them up a little better. When I looked at them today I thought I could do something with them; now I have three Hallowe’en images with magnets glued to the back. Any day I get to play with a glue gun is a good day. I don’t have enough beads left to donate so they’ll just go into the recycle bin.

I was finished half of the binding on my quilt before the Song Circle started and I have it finished now. I found another needle for my cross stitch and spent the rest of the time doing more outlining on the blocks. I think for the rest of the afternoon I’ll continue with that task.

We had a very poor turnout for the Song Circle this afternoon but after two days of rain the sun is shining and I expect many of our regulars were enjoying the day outside.