Friday, January 14, 2022

Today was a catch up day for my decluttering. I had a lot of things I could have picked to do but several of the tasks I hadn’t completed I have already added into my weekly schedule. The one task I didn’t finish yesterday was sorting the bags for the thrift shop – all done now.

I spent the rest of the morning researching yarns and patterns for a project Taylor has asked me to make. Her first choice of yarn was going to be very expensive so I found some alternate yarns that should still work for what she wants. She and her Mum will make a trip to Michael’s to see if anything less-expensive tickles her fancy.

This afternoon I got started on my quilting project for the month. I spent some time a few days ago figuring out a quilting pattern and I wasn’t very far along on the first block when I decided my plan wasn’t going to work – there was too much marking involved. So I started over with my standard star pattern and I’m happy with what I have done so far; six blocks out of thirty so it’s a start but I doubt I’ll get finished this weekend as I had hoped.

I’m going to stop for the day. I’ll do more crocheting tonight on another afghan but it can be easily set aside if I get something worked out for Taylor’s project.

Thursday, January 13, 2022

I stayed up until almost midnight last night watching the watering hole. As is our habit, just before I’m ready to quit for the night we take a quick look at the webcam. Last night there was all sorts of activity – the feral horses, the Gemsbok, some Springboks, a couple of ostrich and then some zebras wandered in. They don’t all get along that well even in the same species but they seem to work it out.

I did a lot of divesting, decluttering and tidying up today. When I looked at Facebook someone was wanting to match a couple of plates she had purchased at the thrift store. Although mine weren’t the ones that had been donated I had six plates that matched. They haven’t been picked up yet but that really felt like an “I’m ready to part with it” moment.

My decluttering task for today was notions. I don’t consider that I have a lot of sewing notions but I had a couple of drawers full of stuff that I used to use. Both drawers have been cleaned out and a lot of what was in it is ready for donation.

I did my big drop-off of donated items this morning – they took everything! I originally planned to take the bags I have upstairs in my hallway but with everything I added this morning I thought the bags needed to be sorted once more. Not that I’ll be keeping any of it but I like to have bags that are more or less full of the same type of item. They were appreciative of my method this morning when I made my drop.

I drove out to the recyclers just south of town and got rid of our paint cans. Another quilter was there doing her recycling so we had a bit of a chat. She isn’t sure we’ll get back together for February but she’s pretty sure we’ll be back in March. Of course neither one of us have any control over what the Guild executive decide.

I was to be tidying up my sewing room today and about all I did was sort through some scraps. I spent half an hour cutting and trimming and the another half hour putting the scraps away in the right bins. I like my method but it needs some stream lining; some of the small bins are overflowing and barely have room to add anything. I guess I could start a project using those scraps but at the moment I have enough projects on the go.

It was well into the afternoon before I managed to start any actual sewing. I’ll continue on my project until supper and then put it aside and tomorrow I’ll get back to my quilting project.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Wednesday is hand stitching day and I look forward to it all week. But first I had to take care of a bit of cleaning and decluttering.

Today’s specific decluttering task for the sewing room was to clear out electronics that are no longer in use. I don’t have any sewing-related electronics and I recycled my old iPads a few weeks ago. So it was onto a cleaning task – the bedroom closet.

I had beach towels in a basket that hadn’t been put away since Christy and the kids were here at the end of August. They are back in the bag where they belong. That gave me room to get at the shelf to put away my summer shoes. Then I packaged up the pads for the outdoor furniture and moved them to the shed; I have room for them in the closet but decided they should go to the shed with the other seasonal things. I was really motivated by then and cleared out a few more bags for donation. I checked out a couple of suitcases for hidden treasures and got them ready to recycle. I’ve debated for a long time about getting rid of them but pulling them bothers my back and hips and I haven’t used them for years. From now on I’ll be backpacking on my travels.

I wanted to get everything off to the thrift shops today in case I changed my mind about any of my donations but apparently no one takes donations on Wednesday. I’ll go out tomorrow and I’ll take everything to one shop; I don’t think they have a limit on how much they take.

The rest of my day was spent on my hand stitching. I got the binding stitched down on yesterday’s project and finished this week’s Peppermint Purple block. I found another stitch along online this morning; I’ve downloaded the files but I haven’t pulled any fabric or threads for it. I’m hoping by next week when block three comes out I’ll have my mind back!

I’m still working my way around the border of last year’s Peppermint Purple project and I’m ready to start a new knitting project tonight.

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Because I would normally be at the Guild bee on a Tuesday I hadn’t scheduled any cleaning tasks for the day. Since I was home though I did a few loads of laundry just to keep up. My decluttering task was to sort through my scissors and rotary cutters. I put my extra scissors together in a bag a couple of days ago as I worked through another task and I only have a couple of rotary cutters so it was an easy day.

I worked on cards today and I expected to get a couple done but the day is almost over and I only have one finished and ready for binding; it is a larger version than my usual cards so I guess it makes sense that it would take longer. I’ll work on the hand stitching until it is time for me to make supper; Pat teaches guitar tonight so I’m in charge. It’s just bacon and pancakes so definitely something I can handle.

It’s been raining most of the day and isn’t expected to stop anytime soon – better than snow though.