Tuesday, May 4, 2021

My plan was to work half a day at my quilting and half a day in the yard. Things didn’t turn out quite that way.

My list of reminders involved a lot of computer-related work so most of the morning was spent at my desk. I had a couple of things I needed to get ready for the mail; by the time they were finished I still had time to make it up to the mailbox in order for them to go out in today’s mail. The plan was to walk up to the mailbox and work in the yard when I got home.

When I came downstairs to go out Pat was trying to put something in the overflowing recycle bags so I decided that I’d better clear up that particular mess. The outside recycle bins were full as well so I loaded them into the car.

We now have a more automated bottle recycling system where you load everything into a bag, print a tag from their system (like you used to print your baggage tag at the airport), tag it, drop them in a big bin and they add your refund to your account. I hadn’t recycled cans and bottles for awhile because I was looking for clear plastic bags but on my trip out on Sunday I got some at Canadian Tire. What a slick system. I sorted my returns into liquor and non-liquor but when I asked the clerk if I had to do this he said they could all go into the same bag. When I put my bags in the bin I noticed a number of blue bags, not clear. Another question answered – they don’t care what kind of bag as long as it has your tag on it. I was in and out in no time.

There was still a bit of regular recycling to sort through when I got home and by then it was past lunch. I figured I’d “worked” half the day so I could quilt this afternoon without feeling guilty.

I’m doing a lot of marking on the quilt I’m working on and I was having trouble getting my frixion lines showing up. I had to press quite hard to draw them but I had to be careful not to tear the fabric. I ordered a package of pens from amazon a month or so ago but I tucked them away. I switched to one of the new pens today and what a difference. The old pen is going into the garbage. I guess the adage about not saving your good dishes works for quilting as well!

Monday, May 3, 2021

Time is running out for me to get my mystery quilt finished before the Guild’s June wind-up. I thought I had a plan but when I started this morning I decided that my plan, although it would work, needed some revisions. I tried one section and was happy with the results so I did a second section. I now have the grid lines on two more sections finished; I think there will be two more sections before the top border is finished. There will still be some fill-ins to do but if I can get these sections done I’ll feel like it is a doable project in my time frame. Of course when the top border is done I will need to repeat it for the bottom border.

I was on our regular video chat this morning with the cousins and I’m tuned in now to the Covid-19 video update. Later this afternoon I’m joining a Zoom event called Yak Fest; the person hosting is a writing friend of Pat. She joined in on one of our Cranberry Hall events and took out a membership. When I wrote to thank her she invited me to attend her events. This will be my first one.

Following right after the Yak Fest I have a Zoom meeting for the Hall. The meetings are generally quite short and I see no reason for tonight to be any different.

We are hoping to finish another season of our marathon Resurrection: Ertugrul. We have five episodes left (out of 90) and there is still another season to go. Pat has explored some Turkish history so sometimes he has advanced notice of things that might happen, mainly who is going to be murdered or die by natural causes. So far everything seems to be historically accurate.

The Covid numbers are encouraging today.

Sunday, May 2, 2021

I was catching up on my Guild Blocks of the Month today – I was three months behind. I had the first one finished by noon.

The second block was a Card Trick, which is a pattern I really like. The block is also one that I want to have in my Log Cabin quilt. The Guild block is 12.5″ but I only needed 8.75″ for my Log Cabin quilt. The directions for the Guild block were quite clear so I made two of the larger size and cut down each section to the size I needed for the log cabin block. It took some extra time but I got it done.

n the middle of the afternoon Pat asked if I felt like trying the Dairy Queen Drive-Thru for a treat. I’m not sure why he asked – of course I wanted to! We waiting in a bit of a line-up and then sat at the beach to finish our treats.

Since our snack this afternoon our supper will be late (if needed at all) and I had time to get the third block finished.

Saturday, May 1, 2021

I finished up my latest batch of cards before I stopped for lunch. When lunch was over I lined up patterns for my next set of cards. This being the first of the month my reminders for cards due in June popped up – there are five or six next month but one of them might get just an electronic greeting.

My May UFO Challenge was announced today. I’ll be working on my Paris Through the Window quilt. It has been sandwiched and I’m quilting it with straight lines so I hope it will be a finish by the end of the month.

I’m way behind on my Guild sewing. I downloaded the instructions for three Blocks of the Month; I’ll pull fabrics for them later today but I probably won’t start working on them until tomorrow.

The Guild Challenge and the Mystery Quilt are both due in June so I must get at them. I don’t have the Guild Challenge sandwiched yet; I’ll wait for the backing I ordered to arrive and sandwich a couple of things when I get a calm day. I have started on the Mystery Quilt but there is still a lot of quilting left. I saw the first photo of a completed quilt today and the quilting absolutely makes the quilt. The quilting on mine won’t be spectacular so the quilt had better be ready to stand on its own.

I’m ready and I’m almost set. I just need to get going now!