Monday, October 30, 2017

When I went over to Texada on Saturday I had no intention of spending more than a day. But the timing for the ferry on Sunday was tricky. Pat had a cord of wood being delivered on Sunday afternoon so that meant I’d have to come back on the late morning ferry. Which was okay, but Pat said if I waited until the late afternoon ferry he would come home too. But we were having wood delivered so I thought it would be nice to stay long enough to have a fire in the wood stove. We ended up coming back on the late morning ferry today.

As always it was a lovely weekend. I ordered (and received) a sewing/craft table from Amazon and Pat had it set up when I got there. We did a few furniture changes in the room so when I’m crafting I can see out the window. Dad’s cedar chest is under the Celtic Cross quilt; no photos this time as I neglected to take my camera. The set up must work for me because I finished two projects while I was there. I used a folding chair as my seat but the sewing stool I have (from a yard sale at some point) will be the perfect height and it has two drawers in it as a bonus.

We had a couple of visitors this weekend, as well as the two fellows who delivered the wood. We were barely back from the ferry when we saw someone in our driveway, and actually coming up our driveway. The JWs have found us! Also the man who runs the coffee shop in Van Anda came over on Sunday; he didn’t stay long but did a quick walk through of the house (just seemed nosy to me). Pat enjoys all the social goings-on; me not so much!

It was a beautiful weekend weather-wise and we did a nice drive on Saturday afternoon. After a long drive down a logging road we found Shingle Beach. I’m not sure if it would be a good swimming beach but it was fun to poke around; they hold a huge Diversity Festival there every summer. There was a huge sea lion just off the shore and a couple of large, long-necked birds out in the water – swans maybe. I picked up a couple of nice shells and I’m looking for something to write the date and location on – I may start a collection.

I should have been cleaning this afternoon but I just wasn’t in the mood. A lot of my work was already done but with sewing tomorrow I know (and don’t care) that I’ll be scrambling on Wednesday morning. I got a couple of parcels ready for the mail tomorrow; it is surprising how long the unpacking takes after a weekend. I have my project all ready for the bee tomorrow so, if Pat goes to the movie tonight, maybe I’ll get the kitchen floor scrubbed.

Friday, October 27, 2017

I don’t know what was wrong with me last night but I couldn’t sleep. I went to bed at my usual time, I read a bit of my book as I usually do, and I turned on the radio. Generally, under these conditions, I’m asleep before I even know what is on the radio. But not last night. I lay there for a couple of hours and didn’t feel in the least like sleeping so I got up and did a bit of quilting. In hindsight it may have been the quilting that was bothering me.

Before going to bed I set up my machine for some straight-line quilting. I knew that it was going to be a lot of work to do the pattern I had picked out but I really thought it would show up the best. But after turning out the light I started to second guess myself and thought of a couple of different ways I might be able to do the quilting. I would have thought that actually getting up and quilting several parts of the quilt (two hours worth) would have put my mind at ease but it did’t and I slept very fitfully for the rest of the night. I got up at nine this morning feeling like I hadn’t slept at all.

I’ve been quilting all day and, as expected, the pattern is a lot of work and I’m no where near finished even the straight line portion of my plan. But I’ll keep at it. As I’m quilting today I’ve given this particular project a name – Memories (formerly known as Leaders and Enders 2016). It is a scrappy quilt and as I’m going around the blocks I’m remembering all the places I’ve used the various fabrics. Some are from my own left-overs, some are from Mum’s scraps (from my Farmer’s Wife Sampler), and others are pieces that friends have given me; the pieces finish at one inch so it didn’t take much yardage for each of those squares.

I’m heading over to Texada tomorrow. Pat went over on Wednesday but I had my hand stitching day and I really wanted to get this project quilted. But as of last night (before the middle of the night) I hadn’t even started it so I decided to take advantage of the nice weather we are currently enjoying; hopefully we’ll get in a hike. I won’t stay long (back on Sunday) because we have a house concert next week.