Thursday, August 18, 2022

I wake up every morning more or less knowing what I’m going to do for the day. But life gets in the way and before I can get to my task list I find there are other priorities.

First off is coffee on the deck and work on a crossword. But the dishwasher needed to be emptied, the coffee had to be reheated and dirty dishes loaded again. After coffee and my crossword I thought I’d better get the watering done. While I was at that I did some deadheading and picked the strawberries. Today’s harvest went right into the yogurt I had for breakfast.

After breakfast I watered everything at the front and did more deadheading down there. My reward was another gladiola and a dahlia. The dahlias we got from Elizabeth are huge!

Finally it was time to get started on what I wanted to do for the day – cut some fabric and get organized for my sewing afternoon. But first there were some e-mails that had to be dealt with and a bit of decluttering that should have been done a day or so ago.

I planned to work on my Home Circle (Circle of Nine) in the afternoon. I was surprised that there wasn’t a lot of cutting involved – just some squares in two different fabrics. I had some time before lunch so I did a step in my Summer Mystery. I’m hoping the hard part is over – figuring out which way up the various pieces are supposed to go. In this case my priority should probably have been cutting up some more Blocks of the Month but I just didn’t feel like it.

I was almost out the door for sewing when I got a call from the man who might take over the accounting for the Hall. I had granted him and our President view-only access to the program I use but he couldn’t figure out how to get into it. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if the problem was on his end. We chatted a bit and he sent me a photo but we didn’t get very far; he is working on a PC and I’m on a Mac so the interface is quite different. We’ll get together in a week or so and try to get it sorted out.

I had a good afternoon at sewing. I might have had the top of the quilt done had I not decided that the arrangement I was using was too bright and I had to readjust. I’ll need to do a bit more cutting before the blocks can be sewn together. There will still be a couple of borders to do but I’m keen to get it finished.

Another hot day today but I’m enjoying my neck fan (thank you Kathryn).

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

I decided I should make a start on the Block of the Month packages I mentioned yesterday. Before I started cutting up fabric I thought it would be best if I cut and sewed the block myself, out of my own fabrics. I’m glad I did because when I got to page two of the instructions there were a couple more cuts I needed to make.

When I moved on to the Community Quilt fabric I noticed that there is a scarcity of neutral colours. So I made up packages and added the note that one more fabric needed to be added. I’ve got five packages done.

I then started to sort the fabric in the bin. There were some heavier cuts that would make good bags to sell at the quilt show and there were quite a few fabrics that would work in a three-yard quilt. I’ll fold the longer lengths and take them along to the meeting and if someone wants to pick three of the fabrics they can make a Community Quilt. We have a Community Quilt weekend in the Program in October so as long as I have it sorted by then I’ll be fine.

It’s too hot to continue working upstairs for any longer. I’m headed for the cool of the basement.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

I started the day at the Guild sewing bee. I have a Tuesday project that requires 77 pinwheels (I love pinwheels) and 77 half-square triangles. It’s been a few weeks since I worked on the project but I made good progress today. I finished making the half-square triangles (although they need to be trimmed) and I cut apart the pieces I need for my pinwheels and started putting them back together. In both cases the pieces are bigger than they need to be and will require quite a bit of trimming.

I always have great plans for the afternoon when I get home from sewing. I had a few errands to take care of and then I was going to do my Guild blog, my own blog, and start some cutting for the Guild’s Block of the Month. I volunteered (I really am crazy) to cut up some of the Community Quilt fabric and put together bags for our members to take home and stitch up. The bags will only contain the strips that are needed (I think September needs three strips) but it was suggested that about twenty bags would be a good number to start with so it will take some time.

But by the time I get home, play a few games on my iPad (to relax you understand) and get my posts finished I have run out of energy. I think it will be a bit more Sashiko stitching and I’ll leave the cutting for tomorrow.

Monday, August 15, 2022

The show at the Hall on Saturday night was excellent. I thought it might be my last “working” show but I think there will be one more before my term is up at the end of September. The duo were ones that Pat and I cancelled due to Covid and it was a real treat to finally have them here. There were a lot of new-to-the-Hall faces in the crowd, as well as a lot of our house concert people. The Hall will be taking over the Home Routes (House Concert) tour for the coming season – there will be work involved but I will be able to just sit and enjoy the shows.

I was full of energy yesterday morning and finished up the September calendar block. When I left off on Saturday I realized I’d made a mistake and had to do one section over. It didn’t take long though and I had it completely done by lunch time. Pat and I ate lunch while we watched a TV show and I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Sashiko project.

I didn’t get much of a start on my day today. Pat was going to Texada and he wondered if I had been able to “fix” his headphones yet. I hadn’t even touched them, and he was actually lucky that I was able to locate them. He just wanted some padding added to the top of them so it was a quick job even if I had to do it twice because the piece I made the first time was a bit too small. They were done in time to take with him.

Our new yard-person was here this afternoon and I felt I should stay handy in case he had questions. His estimate of time was off a bit but, from a distance, it looks like he did a good job. I saw him digging out blackberry roots in one spot and even if it doesn’t get rid of them completely they will have a struggle to start up again. He did a good job of cleaning up after himself. We’ll have him back to do some power washing in a week or so.

While Simon did his thing I sat and played games on my iPad. Not very productive but I don’t think there was anything that really had to get done. I’ll get packed up tonight for sewing tomorrow; I have a Tuesday project that is ready to go so it is just my sewing machine and a few tools that need to be packed.