Saturday, January 8, 2022

No, I’m not anxiously awaiting anything – well maybe an end to this winter weather. Sorting out my pins and needles was the decluttering task for the day. If you had asked I would have said nothing needed to be changed but as I was “just making sure” I found a few things I could switch up and a few other things that I could part with.

In the half-hour I allotted to the task I also cleared out a drawer full of paper. When I worked at the Red Cross it drove me crazy that all the notepaper was scraps of used paper that someone had cut up and stapled together into a pad. I’ve noticed lately that I’m guilty of that as well so today I cleared it all out. I had unused tickets from Home Routes and Pat Buckna Presents concerts, and I had notepaper that had been sent to me by various charities (still with the Wilson name) so they all went into the recycle bin. The scraps of paper I was saving for making notes on also went into the bin and I have three clean pads of notepaper on my desk shelf.

When I’m printing pattern directions (that I don’t want or need to keep) I will often use the back side of a piece of paper that has already gone through the printer. I think this is a good way to save on purchasing paper so I left that shelf as it is.

Before I started on my decluttering tasks I cut out fabric for another card. I also made my long-awaited trip to the quilt shop to get backing for a quilt that I’ll be working on this month. When I chatted with Stacia and Deloise about our upcoming sewing project they assured me it wasn’t a “work ’til you finish it” deal so I also bought fabric for the additional project I’ll work on during our session.

And finally this afternoon I’ve cut out fabric for a set of placemats using the Guild Challenge fabric. In spite of my decluttering and rearranging I’m running out of space to store these prepped projects.

Friday, January 7, 2022

Last week in my cleaning challenge I cleaned up the laundry room – I put away winter coats that I hope we won’t need again, sorted out the recycling and generally tidied up. I had a cylindrical bag that I made that I stored plastic bags in. I don’t remember the last time I needed to pull a plastic bag from it so all the bags went into the recycle and the bag that held them came upstairs with me.

My back was very sore yesterday from standing and cutting and leaning over to press at my home-made pressing station. I love using my mini iron for small tasks but the table is too low. Today I moved the mini iron over to the ironing board; I can use it for small projects but the larger iron will still be there for pressing larger things. I wish I could have cleared out the pressing station completely but I didn’t have time to measure where else it might fit, but I have an idea.

Today’s decluttering task wasn’t really a task – sit back and enjoy your clear floor and sewing table (she assumed we had kept it clean from the previous task). My floor wasn’t giving me much joy so I tackled it for today’s task. I had a small wicker bin that I kept small zip-loc bags in for using with small projects and an old wooden sewing chest that I used for larger bags. I put all the bags into the cylinder I brought upstairs and the wicker basket is on my cutting table for small scraps. I took the broken legs off the sewing chest and decided that without the legs it was worthwhile sending along to the thrift store.

Once the chest was gone I was able to move my Tuesday and Thursday travelling bags into the space and that cleared up some floor space. I had a pillow of scraps that needed to be completed and sent off the the SPCA. I hate sewing up those pillows and decided today that this will be the last one. I think they can probably make better use of the old pillowcases for use as rags or whatever (which reminds me I need to make a task for sorting out the linen closet). I know it isn’t the most environmentally friendly way to deal with scraps but they will go into the garbage from now on (don’t hate me for it).

I didn’t get started on any sewing until past 1:30 but I have managed to get a card top done except for hand stitching the binding. I’ll go and do that now and I think I’ll have it done before supper.

It was still too nasty out to make the trek up to the mailbox and the quilt shop. The snow is gone but we have high winds (no ferries) which make it cold. The power has been off on Texada for awhile and, without ferries, it may be awhile before it gets back on. Such is life I guess and it all could be so much worse.

Thursday, January 6, 2022

As expected, the snow arrived last night. It was a winter wonderland again this morning and although it is settling it is far from gone. I thought we’d get more rain today than we did. It is windy out now and if we get rain in the night we should be okay in a day or so.

I had to spend some time getting the Hall’s monthly newsletter out to our members. I also had to get the latest clue in our Guild Mystery Quilt out today. I was sure the mystery clue was ready to go but at the last minute I decided I didn’t like the photo that I included so I switched it out before I sent it off.

My decluttering task was to archive any bits and pieces of quilts already made. I didn’t think I had anything that fell into that category so I spent half an hour organizing files for quilts I’ve made, making sure I had photos added to my Photos app, and getting rid of a few more patterns that I know I’ll never make. It is a very slow process and I’m sure I’ll be repeating these steps every month until the end of the year. That got me thinking that I need to organize my digital photos but I’m not sure I want to add that task into my schedule just yet.

One of the other tasks on my list was to clean up my studio. I spent more than half an hour at it but all I accomplished was to sort through my fabric scraps and get them into the right bins. After sewing all day the room is messier than ever but at least the scraps are gone.

I did a lot of cutting for the project I’ll be working on with Stacia and Deloise and as a result my back is killing me. I think I’ll put my feet up for the rest of the afternoon and evening so I’ll be ready to start over tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

We had some snow overnight but we are expecting even more tonight. There was a bit of snow that came down just after lunch and the temperature is low enough that everything is still white. When I looked out the patio door before I went to bed last night there were two deer visiting in the yard next door. I haven’t seen any deer in town for quite awhile and it was nice to know they are still in the neighbourhood.

Our package from Elizabeth arrived today with most of our Christmas goodies enclosed. I haven’t put away the one decoration I set out and our new banjo-playing Santa will get put away soon. I purchased a case for storing ornaments (on Christy’s recommendation) so I’ll wait for it to arrive before I put things away. Once I have that I know there will be some reorganizing that I’ll want to do.

For a cross stitch day I haven’t accomplished much. Those half-hour sessions can really eat up a day. More Hall work and more Guild work and then the impossible task of sorting through quilting patterns.

I went through my patterns a month or so ago so my decluttering task was a little easier than starting from scratch. I put the patterns I really really want to make in a bin and left the others in a magazine rack. So today I went through the magazine rack and cleared out a few more. I’ll offer them to the Guild and then they will be added to my ever-growing pile of bags for the thrift shop. Not only were we to go through our paper patterns but she also suggested we should go through our digital patterns. I have more digital patterns than I have paper patterns so I’m going to need about 30 days to go through and organize them.

I was two weeks behind on my 2021 Peppermint Purple stitch-along so today I caught myself up on those patterns. That still leaves a substantial amount of border to take care of. And today the first pattern for the 2022 stitch-along was released and I was in no way ready. This afternoon I picked out my fabric, organized the threads I need and marked the centre of my fabric. Pat has an online event tonight so I might be able to get started on some actual stitching.