Wednesday, November 17, 2021

I have two thoughts today on divesting.

I was attempting to put a backing on one of the hand stitching projects I worked on when I was on Texada. This piece was to be the test for several cards I have made/want to make for Christmas. I did a bit of research online and found something that I thought would work. They used felt to finish the back – in truth to hide the back. Isn’t it lucky that I haven’t yet divested my felt squares that I’ve had since at least Yellowknife.

Another project that I worked on that same weekend wasn’t working out as I had hoped so I took out almost all the stitching I had already done. I took out my design book and sketched out a pattern that I thought would work. I started stitching and decided to amend my pattern somewhat. Several reverse stitches later I almost have the piece done. The kit itself probably cost me less than $5; I should have just divested myself of it when it first went wrong.

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

I started my day with a trip to the Post Office to mail a package and then I made a stop at the library to return a book. I received a notice this morning that I had two books due back today; I had finished one of them and was able to renew the other as I have barely started it.

Then I was off to sewing with the Guild. I took along three cards and the weekend Retreat project to work on. Guess how much I got done – one and a half card tops. My excuse is that I was working with small pieces (some only an inch square) so I was using glue to stabilize all the seams and that adds about twice the amount of time. I also was missing a few tools. I had a ruler – my twelve-and-a-half square – but when you are trying to trim half-square triangles down to an inch and a half it is not easy with a big ruler. I also forgot a tool that I use to make the lines on those small squares that make the half-square triangles and, at the end of the day, I added another tool to my list of things to take next time.

When I finished sewing I went up to Walmart to pick up some meal replacement drinks and some dishwasher soap. I was just starting to unpack them when Pat told me that I had purchased the wrong brand (he needs the diabetic version) so I packed everything back into my bag and headed back to the store. On my way home the first time I remembered that we needed paper napkins so I was able to pick them up on my second trip.

It has been a lovely day out today and you’d never image we had all that rain just a day or so ago. I’m trying hard to get a couple of hat and scarf sets ready to donate at the end of the month but I still have some Guild work to do before I head downstairs.

Monday, November 15, 2021

You would think that after four days I’d have at least one finish to show for myself but I don’t. I spent a lovely long weekend on Texada stitching on my own at the studio. I missed being at the Retreat but I made the right decision when I saw some of the photos from the weekend – no masks, no distancing particularly at the table for meals. I didn’t miss the pressure I put myself under when I’m sewing at a Retreat. I take so many projects to work on and when I’m not able to stick to my schedule I feel like I failed. No such issue with hand stitching though.

I spent half of my first day sorting things out in the studio. I got Moreen’s bed made up and changed all the clocks to the right time after power outages and the time change. Batteries needed to be changed in a smoke detector and our kitchen clock and I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the password for the network over there. There were a few cobwebs that needed to be dealt with but when the work was done I started stitching on my Peppermint Purple SAL. I caught up on all the clues, finished all the grid work and did some stitching on the border.

I spent the second day down in the workshop. I had a quilt top that I wanted to put together but first I had one block that needed to be turned because I had put it in wrong. As I was putting other rows together I checked very carefully that the blocks were turned the right way and I found two more that needed to be restitched. It wasn’t until after dark that I finished the job but it is ready now for a border.

I went back to my cross stitching the next day. I took a bin of small projects that I expected to work my way through but I didn’t get very far. I was trying out a new finishing technique that involved learning a new stitch. The new stitch looks good on the project but my finishing idea was a bust. Back to the drawing board on that and a few more projects I expected to finish. I managed to get a small cross stitch done that I will use for a card; I need some backing fabric for it so it didn’t get completely finished. I started on another project that I’ll use for a card but only got about a quarter of it done.

I fully intended to do some hand quilting on my last day. I’ve had a hand quilting project waiting for a few years but I was in no rush to get it done except that now I really wanted to use the bin I was storing it in. Sadly that didn’t go well as I only had a tiny hoop. So I switched to another card project that I thought would be simple but when I took a good look at it I realized the way it was finished in the pattern wasn’t going to work for me. I’ve changed the pattern so it will work for me but of course I didn’t have time to get it finished – there was more reverse stitching in my pattern than I would have liked.

I’ve puttered most of the day away today. I took care of some computer work this morning and then started getting my projects ready for tomorrow’s sewing. I realized when that was done that I had packed away all my sewing supplies so decided I may as well pack up my machine as well. I went back to my computer and took care of an update it was asking for and now the afternoon is pretty much gone.

We survived the atmospheric river but are in for another wind storm tonight.