Tuesday, October 5, 2021

I had an appointment at the hospital early this morning for regular lab work. Since the start of Covid we have been able to book lab appointments online and I really hope once Covid is over (if it ever is) we won’t lose that ability. I got to the hospital about five minutes early but I was obviously the first one with an appointment. There were other folks waiting outside the lab but I hadn’t even had time to remove my sweater before they called me in. A couple of vials of blood later and I was out the door (about the time of my actual appointment).

I spent almost all day on Hall work resulting from the meeting last night. I got the newsletter ready for proof reading by our President, and I updated some events on Facebook and on the website. I had some research to do on a few different things so was online for a good portion of my time.

I hoped to get up to the fabric shop to pick out some backings but it was pouring rain for most of the day. The sun is out now and if it is halfway decent tomorrow I’ll get that done. I checked in with the Guild at lunch but there was only me and the organizer online. I’m not sure where the usual suspects were.

There were a lot of things I could have been doing with the last part of my afternoon but I didn’t feel very energetic. I had some leader and ender bits that I worked on while I did my last quilt so I got them stitched together and trimmed. I could have been cleaning up my sewing space or cutting fabric for our October miniature or even starting to quilt one of the projects that is already sandwiched. I guess all of those things can wait for another day.

Monday, October 4, 2021

I didn’t get everything done today that I wanted to but I manage to get my quilt top finished, a few more days worth of my 12-Days wrapped, and quite a bit of paperwork handled.

I would have liked to have had the quilt top finished a lot earlier in the day but the day was almost done before I got the last border attached. Because I was more or less winging those borders it was slow going. I used some paper calculations, measured my fabrics, and when I didn’t have enough fabric I erased the calculations and started again. When I thought I had it right I cut and sewed the border on one side at a time, and then measured everything again to be sure my paper calculations matched the actual size on the quilt top.

I had hoped to make it up to one of the quilt shops this afternoon to get some backing for a couple of quilts. According to Pat (and the weather forecast) today was the best day for sandwiching on the back deck. When we were chatting at lunch he suggested I could bring the tables inside to do the sandwiching; I might do that but I won’t feel comfortable spray-basting so I’ll have to see if I have enough pins for both quilts.

I also wanted to get a book returned to the library today; I had a notice in my e-mail this morning that one is coming due. I had read the book but had never done my review (Good Neighbors). I finished that up and when I go out for my Hall meeting tonight I can drop it through the slot.

Kathryn messaged me that she received her tablecloth – and that she likes it and it fits perfectly.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

I spent the morning getting the quilt top together. I still have borders to do and they will be tricky as I’ll have to measure each one to be sure that I have enough fabric. If I’m short I can make the borders a bit narrower. The pattern calls for three different borders so I’ll see if I can make that work.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again here – I am so lucky I don’t have to deal with cooking every day. Pat is the chef in the house but occasionally I step in and do something. Pat was playing music with some friends this afternoon and I’ve spent almost all afternoon in the kitchen.

I started out baking some tart shells I had in the freezer – it was time to use them up. While they cooked and cooled I made a 5-Bean Salad which involved a fair bit of chopping. When that was finished and in the fridge I made up a package of lemon pie filling for my tarts; I didn’t bother with meringue as we bought some Cool Whip for them.

Then it was on to the dinner’s main course – Sauerkraut Meatballs. I decided that there was too much meat for just the two of us. I made up all the meatballs but I put half of them in the freezer for another time. As this was a new recipe I didn’t want to have too much left over in case we didn’t like it. I was able to get in a bit of cross stitching before it was time to start making the sauce for the meatballs and get them in the oven. I have less than an hour now before I’ll have to put the rice on to cook. While the rice cooks I’ll make a green salad.

I ran a load of dishes through the dishwasher and hand washed a sink full of dishes. I emptied the dishwasher and then started loading it again. Whew!

As I said – I’m very lucky I don’t have to do this every day.

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Late yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing up the backstitching on my Thunderbird, I noticed that I had made an error and there was going to be some reverse stitching required. I didn’t look too closely at how much was going to have to be redone; I gave up and quit for the day.

This morning I did a bit of reverse stitching; fortunately the area I needed to redo wasn’t as large as I feared. I wasn’t looking to save the threads so that made the ripping out a bit easier. By noon I had the stitching done, including the backstitching. I’ll get it washed and off to the framers in the next week or so.

Since it had been on my list to do yesterday (and in my Texada bin) I wanted to cut out another quilt. I want this one done before Christmas; I often do my Christmas sewing at the Texada Retreat in November but I’m not sure I’ll be going. The organizer will be looking for proof of vaccination but I’m not sure, even under those circumstances, that I want to take part. If I don’t decide soon there will be no spots left – maybe that is what I’m hoping for.

After lunch I set about cutting fabric. I was using fabric I purchased in Houston several years ago for what is known as a 3-Yard Quilt; if you bought the fabric the pattern was free. When I opened the roll of fabric I was surprised to see I had six different fabrics and none of them were a yard long; usually you use just three fabrics. I’m doing some mixing and matching and I think I can make it work.

Because I’m unsure of how it will all go together I’ve been doing some stitching as I go along. Everything was going well until Step 3 where I messed up and stitched half of the fabric to the wrong side of its partner. I guess it is in keeping with my morning; I’ll continue to reverse stitch and sew and cut and see how far I get before the end of the day.

On the positive side my evening crocheting is going well.