Wednesday, July 7, 2021

It was time for some real work today and I headed out to the yard quite early as I wanted to be finished before the heat of the day. I was working on the small sitting area we have at the back. The ivy was completely overgrown, a couple of trees that had died needed to be trimmed off and there were piles of dropped leaves. I know I did this area earlier in the spring but apparently I didn’t do a very good job.

Pat came out to help me but when he finished trimming the ivy and was helping to pick up the debris he was coughing so hard I told him to go pick the blueberries and I’d do the clean up. After picking a few blueberries (he thinks they will be better if we leave them for a week) he came back with a mask and helped tidy up.

I had three bags of green waste by the time we were done so we decided to make another trip to the dump. Yesterday we had a few boxes of branches that wouldn’t fit in the truck so we got rid of everything today. We brought the boxes home and I’ll start filling them again; the boxes are much easier to dump than the bags.

As I wandered through the yard on various trips to and from the shed I noticed we have a calla lily in bloom, as well as a gladiola and a tiger lily. Many more still to come.

We were home again by 10:30. After a shower and some breakfast I headed out on a few errands. I had four books to pick up at the library; it seemed every time I looked at my mail I had a new notice for a book pickup. I also had a package to get into the mail so I drove to the drive-by mailboxes and they were gone. There were mailboxes on the outside of the post office building so I dropped off my mail and went in to ask if the drive-by mailboxes were gone for good. Sadly they are; apparently they were considered a safety hazard. I’m sure it had nothing to do with my rather unpleasant chat with Canada Post concerning them.

I had a bag of crafty odds and ends that I wanted to take to the thrift store. While I had my shower Pat went through his closet and found four bags of shirts and pants that he was willing to part with. He doesn’t “divest” very often but when he does he is pretty thorough.

I had to have a little nap after lunch. My allergies had started to kick in and I was getting a headache. My arms and legs are much sorer than usual; I think it is because I did more leaning and reaching and less work down on my hands and knees.

This afternoon I got the border on the last table topper and all the borders on another quilt top from my pile. I still need to piece the backing for that one but when it is done I’m down to the last layer.

Pat has an online event tonight so I’ll work on this week’s clue for my Peppermint Purple stitch along.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

We headed out to the dump this morning with a truck load of green waste. I had a meeting at ten but Pat was sure we could get the job done and be back in time. I was doubtful but thought if I was a bit late it would be okay. Turned out we made a good team; Pat unloaded and cut the bags and I emptied them. We were home by 9:30 in lots of time for my call.

I spent the rest of the morning working on the Hall accounting with the accountant. There were some things I entered wrong when I switched to the new accounting package and there some other issues with another account. She left me with a number of things to sort out and I thought that was that.

This afternoon I put together the 30 four-patch pieces I need for one of my mystery quilts. Adding the orange fabric worked out well and I have pretty good contrast in all of the blocks. I added the borders to one of the table toppers and I’m halfway done the second one.

I was about to call it quits for the day when the accountant called me back with some more questions. It was like we weren’t speaking the same language; she was talking debits and credits but the form where I make entries doesn’t use debits and credits, at least not in a way that I could tell what I was entering as which. We ended up by deciding to give her access to the files and she will make the necessary adjustments. Even that wasn’t easy as she gave me the wrong e-mail to use and she wasn’t getting the invitation to sign into the account.

Once I got everything figured out I was more than done. Pat had an online event this afternoon so I was in charge of supper. I thought I had some time to kill (maybe get some cross stitching done) but when he heard me downstairs he told me he was going to finish early and I should start supper right away.

Supper is over and Pat’s on his second online event of the day. I’ll go downstairs, do the dishes and try not to obsess over my accounting issues.

Monday, July 5, 2021

The first clue for one of my mystery projects came out last week and I was quite pleased with myself for getting everything cut before the first sewing clue came out. I did worry that I didn’t have enough variety in my fabrics; my colour was yellow and to make up the right number of pieces I added a bit of gold. I purposely stayed away from anything that was too orange. The thought occurred to me that if we had to make 4-patches I was in trouble but I moved on.

Wouldn’t you know it? Today, when the first sewing clue was released we are to make 4-patches. I tried to match up what I already had cut so I had at least a bit on contrast between the fabrics but I had to give up and delve into my oranges.

I’m not convinced this is all going to work out but it’s too early to throw my hands up and quit.

Sunday, July 4, 2021

I finished my last load of laundry this morning. It has been a slow process as I’ve only been doing one load a day and hanging it on the line to dry. I didn’t want to heat the house up by running the drier, but for those things I did need to dry (like the load I forgot to bring in until the night dampness moistened it again) I ran the drier on a low-heat setting.

I didn’t really have a plan for the day but I had a clue cut for my Laundry Basket mystery so I spent the morning finishing that. I’ve got seven out of ten blocks finished so I’m getting there. When the blocks are finished I’ll take them to Texada to put on the design wall before sewing on the borders. Each clue shows you where on the whole quilt those particular blocks will go so it will be complicated to get them right unless I have a system.

The first five clues are on the floor of the room opposite my sewing space but there is no way I can pick them up, transport them, and get them in the right order again. So I came up with a system; I’ll keep the blocks from each clue in a bag along with the layout and I won’t even attempt to put the blocks in order until I have the design wall. That method has worked for the last two clues I’ve finished. Getting to the first five clues will be difficult because they are buried under a pile of quilt tops waiting to be sandwiched.

I realized today that all those quilt tops need pieced backings and some of them need to have a border added. So my afternoon project was to see how many layers I could get through.

As it turns out, not so many. The first layer I picked up (the last one I laid down) was my July UFO – a mystery quilt I started in October, 2018. I bought some backing fabric for it yesterday and I managed to get the backing pieced so it is ready to be sandwiched.

The second layer is my June UFO – a quilt top and two table runners. I’ve managed to get a border on two sides of the quilt top but it is too warm upstairs now so I’m going to quit for the day. At least I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.