Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Today was a rare day when I had reminders for both the Hall and the Guild, and neither one of them was quick to do. I was looking forward to my cross stitching day and although I’ve been at it for most of the day I’m not as far along as I hoped.

My Peppermint Purple stitch along is all caught up. These patterns are in a 14×14 grid and in most cases are quite quick to complete each week. Today was probably the easiest one I’ve done. Just ten more weeks and the clues will stop coming; I doubt I’ll be finished stitching because I’ve chosen a rather complicated border.

Between loads of laundry I moved on to my October stitch along. We’re at Day 20 of October but I’m only just finished Day 9. These patterns are done in a 15×15 grid and I expected they would be as fast to do as my Peppermint Purple but the designer of this project packs a lot into her grids.

Pat has an online event tonight so I’ll get a little extra stitching time in.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

I was a little more productive today and finished the three major items on my list. I even had time for a few digressions.

Although it wasn’t on my list I shifted a few papers around on the shelves of my computer desk. Every time I went to print something I thought it should be easier to get at my paper and today I fixed that. I have paper within easy reach and I’ve even sorted it out based on type – one shelf for paper-paper and one for card stock. I’m not sure why that left me with an empty shelf but I used it for scrap paper.

The first of my need-to-do tasks was to finish the binding on one of my quilts. Since I knew I’d be sitting downstairs and stitching I decided to make a pumpkin loaf to use up the last of our Thanksgiving pumpkin. While the loaf baked I finished the binding and had a bit of time to work on my October stitch-along. I’m not sure whether or not it is good news, but I still have enough pumpkin for another loaf (another time).

Second on my list was to get out the yarn from the trunk in the shed and have it ready for donation on Thursday. I thought I knew what was in the trunk but I found a few surprises. One bag had some yarn that I’ll keep because it will make a nice scarf/hat combo and I found another bag of yarn that I thought I could sell. I was right as it was picked up very shortly after I listed it.

Last on my list was the binding on the second quilt. That’s done now so I think I’ll quit for the day. I’ve been working on another afghan in the evenings; this one uses all the bits and pieces of yarn that have been left from other projects. It is time to get it done so it will be ready for donation next month.

Monday, October 18, 2021

I had a lot planned for my day and managed to get very little of it done. In part because things took longer than expected and I ran off in a few unplanned directions.

After my sewing weekend I had a bit of paper work and computer work to get done. In my pile of paper I found a few more photos to scan and a package of cross stitch supplies that I hadn’t opened when it arrived in the mail.

The package had the fabric for a new pattern – Roses and Lace. I was ordering some floss from the same shop but neglected to check the pattern to see what I needed. I packaged up the floss that I had, along with the fabric, and sorted out what other colours I needed to order. I have another pattern coming any day now so I thought I should package up the floss I needed for that project. I added a few more numbers to my shopping list. The store I order from on the Island isn’t open until Thursday so I added a Reminder to myself to phone them. Also included in the package were a few other floss colours that I need for other projects.

That all being done (and unplanned) I got back to my plan. I had a number of bags of different yarns that I wanted to get listed for sale. I took photos of everything and then tried to find prices for it all; most of the yarn is discontinued since I bought it so for some I was just guessing. I think if anyone purchases it though they will be getting a bargain.

While I was quilting on the weekend there were a few things stacked at the end of my machine cabinet that were sort of in my way. Most of it was stuff that didn’t belong there or that needed to be better organized. While I was pulling pins from my quilts I thought of a better way to store the different sizes and I even had tins to sort them into. I put my threads and bobbins away and even managed to get the cover on my machine. How long before it is a disaster again is anyone’s guess.

Another area that needed some attention was my table top beside my desk. I do a lot of my hand stitching there and I had needles (on magnets) all over the top as well as a few pairs of scissors. I had some bookmarks that I use to keep the lines straight on the pattern as I stitch as well as a few coloured markers that I use to keep track of what I’ve done on a pattern. I have all that wrestled into one container now.

So I’m going back to my plan for the day even though the day is almost over – hand stitching the last half of one of my quilting projects.

Sunday, October 17, 2021

It’s been a day or two but I’ll try to get back into the habit again.

I had my first Thursday sewing day in over 18 months. There are only two others in the group, all are all double vaccinated and we sit at separate tables. I was over-cautious and wore my mask all afternoon but Jessie and Gail didn’t. It was wonderful to see the ladies and chat about what we had done and what we were working on. It turns out that Jessie and I both want to do the same quilt so I expect that will be a Thursday project over the next month or so. For this week I worked at putting together the first clue for the Guild’s mystery; neither Gail nor Jessie are Guild members so I wasn’t letting the secret out of the bag.

Friday and Saturday Stacia, Deloise and I did an online retreat. On Friday we all worked on the October miniature (which I’ll post soon) before moving on to other things. The crazy thing about the miniature was that I had almost all my pieces already put together (from another project that I’ll never do) but by our late morning/noon check-in they were both caught up to me. A bit of quilting finished my day off.

We had an emergency Board meeting for the Hall on Friday night. About an hour before the Zoom meeting was to start our power went out. Pat was able to check online and could see that the crew wouldn’t be responding until after the meeting should have started. We did more checking and I sent out a few texts to other Board members and determined that the Hall had power. I took my laptop to the Hall and joined the meeting from there. The power was still out when I got home.

On Saturday I completely finished the quilting on the project I was working on. I had a pattern I wanted to try out to see if it would work as a gift for Christmas. It was the easiest pattern – only a few seams – but I did it wrong twice. When I finally got myself sorted I went ahead and cut out the number of pieces I needed. And since the Christmas fabric bin was already open I did some cutting for another Christmas project. Last for the day was cutting and starting to piece the binding for two quilts.

This morning I got the binding attached to both quilts and during the Song Circle this afternoon I managed to get around two sides of one of the quilts. I’ll continue with hand stitching until they are finished so I can check them off my Reminder list.

Late this afternoon I dug into a yarn bin to see if I could find even a tiny bit of blue baby yarn. I’m working on a shell stitch blanket and I ran out of yarn two shells from the end of the row. I had no luck so I’ll have to rip it back one complete row.

While I was in the bin I took out quite a few bags of yarn that I’ll try and sell through one of the Swap & Shop sites in town. If they don’t sell I’ll pass them along to the thrift store.

Time now to get myself some supper. Pat is playing for his dinner tonight and, hopefully, a few tips.