Friday, September 25, 2020

I spent the afternoon yesterday pulling weeds. No, not in my own yard but in the yard at the Hall’s rental house. It wasn’t difficult because pretty much everything in the beds had to come out. I had a friend who is a gardener heading up the task and I always checked with her before digging out and pulling. As we cleared space she’d pull out seeds from one pocket or another and plant them. Then there were some plants that we cut back that are self-seeding so they got buried into some of the cleared spots. Then we scattered sawdust over everything and she said that’s all we need to do until spring.

Our next door neighbour has just started a new business and he does power washing so he came over today and took care of the deck and some of the siding on the back porch. I like to think he was just looking for business when he told us on a previous visit that he had a power washer if we ever wanted the deck done; otherwise I’d have to admit how bad the deck looked. But it is done now and he even did the outside of the windows on the deck.

I’ve spent most of the day quilting. I am so close to finishing a project that I’ve been working at off and on (mostly off) all month. Just like the jelly roll rug this is an old project that I’ll be glad to have finished.

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Who knew you could get plants delivered by mail? Christy sent me plants for my birthday, delivered through the post office. They came planted in small pots with a ceramic pot the small container fit into. Everything you need in one big box.

The paperwork that came with the plants listed an app you could use to monitor your amigo. I tried to download it to my iPad but it is too old so I tried it on my Mac. Sadly the app will only work with an iPhone or some other iOS operating system. But Pat downloaded the app to his iPad so we were in business.

As part of the setup you had to give your plant a name. Then you told it how much sun the plant would receive in the “cozy” spot you decided to place it. It also wanted to know the size of the plant. Now that I’m set up the app will send an e-mail that will tell me when to water, how much to water, and when to fertilize.

I’m hopeful that with all those instructions coming my way I can keep my new friends happy!

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

As if we haven’t been hunkering down for several months already, we are preparing for our first “vigorous” fall storm tonight. We have been issued both a Wind Warning and a Special Weather Statement. Apparently there are not one, but two, atmospheric rivers headed our way over the night and into tomorrow. The wind has already arrived, although I know it will get worse.

I’ve spent the day working on my September UFO – a Jelly Roll Rug. At the beginning of the month I didn’t think there would be a problem getting the project finished but here we are in the last week of the month and this is the first time I’ve touched it. It is going quite quickly and let’s face it I don’t need to worry too much about how it looks as long as it doesn’t fall apart – it is a rug for the floor that we’re likely to walk all over!

I have lots of hand stitching lined up – a new knitting pattern, two week’s worth of clues in my Hex-Along and some cross stitched quilt blocks. All of these could be done while watching TV but so far I’ve managed not to waste the entire night in front of the television.

That being said I received a new puzzle book for my birthday and it is keeping me busy both morning and night. It isn’t easy and there are a lot of different puzzles to solve. I needed to use the internet to help me solve several clues on yesterday’s puzzle but this morning I managed on my own.

I’ve been making the daily blocks from the Quilters’ Block a Day calendar for what seems like forever. Before the end of the Guild’s year I put together a quilt top for their show and tell.

From that point on I’ve been stashing the additional blocks in a drawer but on this trip to the studio I made use of the great design wall I have there and put together three more. Pat helped with the layout on many of them.

These will all be donation quilts but I’ve no idea when I might get around to sandwiching and quilting them.

The drawer still isn’t empty and I expect I’ll continue to add to it but for now it is nice to see some of them used.

UPDATE: Covid #3, #4 and #5 were sandwiched at a Community Quilt weekend and someone (or several someones) took them home and did a fantastic job quilting.