Wednesday, April 4, 2018

The yard has needed some attention for a long time but I never seemed to be free when the sun was shining. I heard yesterday that we were in for some rain over the next while so I decided today was the day I would get back into my gardening schedule. It was quite cool out but I had a couple of sweaters on and the rain stayed away so it was all good. Basically all I was doing today was clearing and trimming much of what should have been done last fall. After my surgery I never got back into my routine. I sound a bit like Ross Geller (from Friends) – “But we were on a break”; it work for him for many seasons so I’m sticking with my “couldn’t do it after my surgery” excuse. Things are definitely greening up – the daisies have really taken off.

While I was working I came across the sea shell that Gavin put in the yard last summer. When he wanted to do something with one of the shells he collected I said he should put it out in the garden somewhere. I smiled when I saw it but when I talked to him for his birthday I forgot to mention it. When I cut off the branches from whatever was growing around it (irises I think) I saw it and a little snail that was sitting on top. I guess it was too cold for the snail without the leaves because it moved off pretty quickly once it was uncovered.

There are lots of weeds growing up as well so I’ll have to keep at it. At the end of the morning I decided that I couldn’t stand the grass; it needed to be cut so badly. I wasn’t sure if the batteries for the mower were charged and whether the grass would be dry enough to cut. I set the mower on it’s highest setting, the batteries worked and it is trimmed – not very well, but I think a little better than it was.

I’ve been upstairs all afternoon and I just finished the quilting on the final block of Fat Cats and Dog. I still need to add some quilting to the border but I think I’m over the worst of it. This quilt has taken me so long – I wasn’t enthused about it so I always managed to find something else to work on and kept putting it aside. I’ll be glad to get the binding on and have it off my Guild UFO list.

It’s a movie night tonight but I haven’t yet decided whether or not I’ll go. I’m quite achy from all my garden work and I think I’d be happier getting the final bit of quilting done.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

I had a good weekend on Texada. The weather didn’t cooperate so we weren’t able to go out for any walks but we did do a nice drive one day; it is always warm when you are inside behind a window. It was warm enough one afternoon that I was able to sit on the deck and read but when I tried the same thing the next day the coolness of the breeze drove me back inside. I did a fair amount of stitching and quite a lot of reading. I seem to go through books faster on my Kindle than I do when I read a “real” book.

When we were out for dinner on Friday night I ran into a couple of women from the Texada Guild. The Guild normally sews for a couple of hours on Monday evening but I don’t go because I take an earlier ferry back to Powell River so I’ll be ready for my Tuesday bees. But since this was a holiday Monday they were stitching for the whole day. I didn’t have a machine or a project with me so I started on a new project idea I had. Mum had several cross stitch patterns for quilt blocks and my idea is to make a quilt using the cross-stitch blocks along with fabric blocks in the same pattern. The fabric blocks will depend on my ability to copy the cross stitch pattern but for the first block I found something easy that I should be able to recreate.

I’m enjoying the idea so much that I did a little stitching this morning while I had my coffee. I did a little more this afternoon when I got home from the bee. Although I may sit a bit longer with the cross stitch it is certainly more productive time than the time I was spending playing MahJong on my iPad!

I had a productive day at the bee. The final fabric for the table runner I’m making Elizabeth arrived last week so last night I trimmed it down and sorted out the pattern. It stitched together very quickly today and it is ready to be sandwiched and quilted. I did up last week’s block from the 1880 Sampler, along with a matching block that I’ll use as a card top. And finally I worked on my April challenge. #5 was the lucky number this month and my project is one I started about three years ago. It involves a lot of snowflakes, which are appliquéd, but I actually didn’t mind doing that today. Is it that I’m getting better or that it was just nice to have a change?

On the way home I stopped at the library to drop off a book and then made my way to the fabric shop. I was looking for a backing fabric for the table runner; I found a perfect piece but there wasn’t enough. I bought it anyway as I can use it either for binding or for something else that uses the same fabric as the table runner. I ordered two fabrics online and bought enough that I wouldn’t have to go back for more. The table runner took very little of what I ordered and I’ve already warned Elizabeth that she’ll be getting presents in that fabric line for a long time!

I’m off now to get myself some supper. I’m hoping I’ll have enough energy after supper that I can come back upstairs to quilt. I’ve been working on this particular quilt for a long time and I have another quilt plus two table toppers waiting.