Tuesday, November 10, 2020

I took care of some computer work this morning before heading out to do a few errands. It’s cold today so I added a scarf around my neck. My first stop was the fabric store. Lately I’ve been taking off my glasses when I put on my mask; they are on a chain so they hang around my neck in case I need them. My keys are on a lanyard and rather than put them into my purse, which would make them hard to find when I needed them, I put them around my neck. It wasn’t until I got back to the car and removed my mask that I realized how many loops were around my neck.

Yesterday I decided that I was never going to use those quilting rulers so I should sell them. I had a change of mind today. Whenever I’ve tried to use them I’ve been trying to adapt the information in the workbook to the size of the block I was quilting. That didn’t work well so, in the new year, I’m going to make blocks in the size the workbook uses and see if I can figure it out. The workbook suggests making a whole cloth quilt but I don’t really want to do that; I think a single block at a time will be a better fit for me.

I did a bit more cutting this morning for my weekend retreat. News came out today that the planned in-person retreat on Texada has been cancelled.

This afternoon I’ve been working on my Guild’s mystery quilt. Most of the clues have been very quick to finish (fabric requirements, cutting and a few half square triangles and half flying geese units). I’m at the point where I’m putting a bunch of those together and it is taking some time.

I have finally managed to get back to my knitting in the evening: I’m working on my third winter hat.

Monday, November 9, 2020

It’s been one of “those” days and my level of confidence has dipped. I had more problems with my grocery order this morning but I managed to get the groceries delivered. Pat had warned me that Safari, as a browser, hadn’t worked for him so I put in my order via Chrome. When I got to the checkout it was asking for a security code that would be delivered either by text or voice. Since I hadn’t given them my cell number I expected a phone call with this code. Nothing. I called the store and the person I talked to didn’t know what was wrong and so I had to wait until her manager arrived. When I called back I went through two people before I got to the manager and he was absolutely no help either. I ended up saying I would pay for the groceries at the door when they were delivered. Pat now tells me that he had that same problem with Safari but it didn’t show up when he used Firefox. If, and that is a big if, I order again I will try using Firefox.

I knew I was delaying my project for the day – quilting. I did some more cutting for my retreat-at-home weekend and I went out to the post office to mail the masks and to drop a book back at the library. There was enough time before I had to go downstairs to wait for the groceries so I sandwiched one of the blocks on my quilt. That didn’t go well so I ended up using my spray to sandwich the layers. By this time I didn’t even want to continue.

But after the groceries arrived I got back to it. I was planning to try some ruler and free-motion work on these blocks but when I looked at the book they all seemed really complicated. I found one block that looked doable but it was all straight lines so I didn’t need to use the free-motion technique. The block in the book was smaller than the block I was working on so I had to add a few ideas of my own to get the density right for the batting.

On to the next block and I’ve got it about half done. For this block I followed the book but it turns out that it is much more densely quilted than it needs to be. I will carry on with it though.

I have a Board meeting tonight and I told everyone I would be attending online. Then our President asked me if I would host the meeting and send out the Zoom invites; I said I would try. With the way my day has been going I have no confidence that anyone will be able to log on and participate.

And then our Secretary asked me if I would take minutes as he was sick and wouldn’t be attending.

I can hardly wait until this day is over.

Sunday, November 8, 2020

I intended to go out for groceries first thing this morning but it was cold (I know not all that cold, but cold) so I decided to do an online order. We had groceries delivered at the beginning of the pandemic and we are under almost the same lockdown now as we were then so I didn’t feel too guilty about it.

I managed to create an account at the store (Pat had always ordered the groceries before) and found all the items on my list to add to my cart. When I went to pick a delivery time there were no options for this week; their week ends on Saturday and they don’t update the calendar until Monday morning. So I took everything out of my cart, rewrote my list and thought I would head out to the store.

But I was still in my pjs, it was still cold and the senior time for shopping was just about over. There was nothing I absolutely had to have today so I’ve decided I will try the online system again tomorrow.

My “Texada Retreat at Home” is coming up this next weekend and, as for all the retreats I attend, I like to get the cutting done ahead. I pulled out some fabric for a new project and got it cut into the pieces I’ll need. It is a new (and slightly complicated) pattern that I’ve not seen done but I’ve read the instructions and I think I’m up for it. I’ll try to do more cutting for a few other Christmas projects each day this week. I’ll be ready to sew, sew, sew bright and early Friday morning.

Saturday, November 7, 2020

I was enjoying a visit with Kathryn this morning. I was in the “room across the hall” sitting in the “new” rocking chair. My Hex-Along top was sitting on the floor as I was testing various backgrounds for the piece.

Mid-conversation I realized there was a mistake. I had two hexagons that were positioned incorrectly; no one who saw the picture I put up on an earlier post noticed the problem and neither did anyone from the Facebook group related to the hex-along.

Fortunately the error was on the outside row and was a relatively easy fix. The two hexagons just needed to be turned around but, since I’d already removed the card stock backing, it was tricky to get them torn apart and then restitched.

But it’s back together again. In some ways I think I should wait a couple of days in case there is another problem but at the same time it might be better to get it beyond the point where I can fix anything.

Did you notice the error?