Sunday, February 20, 2022

I was up early this morning and had all my decluttering tasks finished by nine. I don’t have any cleaning tasks on Sundays and it appears that my Sunday decluttering tasks are mainly monthly. I got an early start on my quilting as I didn’t want the day to disappear, as it did yesterday, without getting it done.

This afternoon, while I listened to another version of Pat’s Song Circle via Zoom, I finished the quilting, trimmed the quilt and got the binding made. I probably have time to stitch it on before supper but I’m going to call it quits for now. I’ll do some work on my Botanical Garden blackwork as I’m way behind on it. I have seen some photos of work others in the group have done and I’m going to incorporate some of the changes into my project.

I had hoped that tomorrow I could clear my hallway of bags for donation but I realized this afternoon that tomorrow is Family Day and everything will be closed. A task I can put off for another week I guess.

Saturday, February 19, 2022

We were able to watch Taylor’s competition via Zoom late this afternoon. Today’s discipline was on the trampolines – a mini to a regular and then just the regular trampoline. My goodness that girl can bounce. I tried to snap a photo but she just moves too fast. She’ll compete again on Monday in the floor routine.

I finished Taylor’s blanket last night and this morning I had to vacuum upstairs and down to pick up all the shredded bits that came off it. I hoped to package it up in a space bag for mailing but my space bag had lost its zipper so it went into a big box. The blanket is really soft, but it is heavy. I think every time it is handled it will stretch a bit so it may end up much larger than she wanted it. And I can’t even imagine how it will wash but Christy says Taylor doesn’t allow her blankets to be laundered very often. I have a few balls of yarn left so I might see if I can knit up some scarves for donation.

After my cleaning and decluttering tasks were done I played a few games on my iPad before heading upstairs to get at the quilting. Had I not wasted so much time I might have had it done today; I got one section finished before I had to stop for the competition.

I’m back to my small crochet blanket in the evenings; it certainly feels different from the last blanket.

Friday, February 18, 2022

I seldom listen to music while I work in my studio but I spent part of the morning copying some CDs onto my computer. On a computer upgrade I lost my CD player so a number of discs sat on a shelf collecting dust behind my monitor. I brought up our portable CD player last night and got the discs loaded today. So when I got started quilting after lunch I decided I should listen to some of them.

First up was Babra Streisand. Diane and I pretty much discussed and loved every song Streisand recorded; the dream was to see her live. I purchased this CD (Wall) after Diane had passed but I was always too emotional to listen to it. Still love her voice and her songs on this one were familiar and soothing.

Next up was Jim & Penny Malmberg from Edmonton. This couple were performers at one of our house concerts; I actually loaded two of their CDs this morning. Not the greatest duo but they were a very fun couple. I think it was probably just as well that we didn’t know Jim was a psychiatrist – we might have been more guarded in our conversations.

My favourite of the afternoon has to be Lennie Gallant though. I think we first saw him in concert at Cap College long before I was a student there. I was certain he was the reason I had to see the Marion Bridge when we did our East Coast trip but I couldn’t see that he had ever recorded it; he’d be brilliant singing it though. We have ten of Lennie’s albums on a thumb drive; I bought it when he performed in Powell River a few years ago.

I’m going to get back now to more Lennie Gallant and my quilting.

Thursday, February 17, 2022

After three days of intense sewing with Stacia and Deloise I didn’t even turn my sewing machine on today; furthermore, I didn’t even want to. But we had a good session and what didn’t get done this time around will wait for our next session in March. We are all very much looking forward to sewing together, in the same room, in June.

On Monday I worked on our basket project. It is slow going as I had to cut strips, sew them together, cut them again and, finally, sew them together once more. I have one basket done, five more bases finished and the strips for the next six ready to stitch together for the final time.

On Tuesday I finished the second project I worked on last month – my crocuses. It isn’t actually finished but it is sandwiched and waiting to be quilted. That is almost like a finish in my world. On the last day I worked on my scrap challenge for the month – Stay at Home blocks. I still have a few more to make and, at this point, I have no idea what it will become.

One evening I finished my 2021 Peppermint Purple stitch-along. Again, not finished because I’ll have to frame it somehow. Deloise has been telling us about a method and tutorials she found online and I’ll definitely give it a try. I currently have three cross stitch projects waiting to be “finished”.

I got a start on my next stitch-along. It is part of a different group and so far, although I’m liking it, I’m not finding it as easy as the Peppermint Purple was. I’m already seven weeks behind and it is going to take a lot of time to catch up. Good thing I have lots of it – even though it seems the days go by faster every week.