Thursday, August 27, 2020

It is nearing the end of the month and I’ve done very little to move forward on my August UFO Challenge. I’ve been avoiding it and I know why.

The blocks that I’m doing involve appliqué – a lot of appliqué. And I don’t like doing appliqué. I use a product that makes it easy to cut out a design and attach it to the fabric but from that point on it is pure torture for me.

What machine should I use? How many different kinds and colours of thread do I need? What kind of stitch will I use. When I appliqué on cards I do the appliqué stitching as part of the quilting but this is a quilt and that method won’t work as well on a larger piece.

So I’ve avoided it – until today. I set out all the blocks and I even did a very little bit of stitching but then it was time for lunch.

While I had lunch I started to rewatch the Shetland series that correspond to the last two books I’ve read. And here it is supper time and no more stitching has been done; I didn’t waste my time entirely though as I did some knitting.

Turns out the first episode followed very closely to the book – with the exception that Perez’s wife was hardly mentioned (in the book this is where she was murdered) and the murderer was a completely different person with a very different motive.

Except for one image in the second book I couldn’t remember the story at all. Not surprising as when I watched the episodes on Netflix not only was the murderer a surprise but pretty much the entire story was changed.

Now back to that appliqué – maybe tomorrow!

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

You’ve heard that expression for when you are involved in something and then are distracted by at least one other thing – Squirrel!

Well today it wasn’t squirrel for us. Pat came back from Texada and we were chatting about the renovation plans, new light fixtures he purchased, and any number of other things when I interrupted the flow of the conversation with – Whale!

We haven’t seen a lot of whales this summer but today there were two large humpbacks out in the Strait. We watched them for about half an hour before they made their way further down the Strait and out of sight.

Seeing whales from our dining room makes any day a good one no matter what else is going on.

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

I started a new book last night but only got a few pages into it before turning off the light and going to sleep. When I checked my mail his morning I was a little disturbed that I had a note from the library that the book was due back in a couple of days. I tried to renew it but they had a wait list and I couldn’t.

I had a bit of Hall work to take care and when that was done I finished a few more masks for Taylor. The sample I sent fit her so I put five more together and got them in this afternoon’s mail. Since Alex’s birthday card was ready to go I wrapped it as well and sent it off.

Just before I set off on my errands I had a quick look through Facebook and there, right there, were the fabrics I wanted to use for the mystery quilt project I’m leading for the Guild in the new year. I had only recently realized that I was going to have to have the quilt done for each step of the mystery but I hadn’t even started to look for fabric in my stash or elsewhere. I had a very delightful stop at the fabric shop before coming home.

And since that book deadline was looming I spent the afternoon reading and, if I’m honest, a little napping. I’ll be doing more of the same for the rest of the day.

Monday, August 24, 2020

The Hall’s AGM went very well yesterday and, as expected, it was a short one. I wasn’t really tired after it was over but I decided to take a good long break when it was done; I finished some stitching on my Hex-Along as well as some knitting in the evening.

My entire day so far has been spent in front of the computer. I didn’t plan it that way but once I get started it seems I never finish. I had some work to do following yesterday’s meeting and there were several e-mail messages that had to go out to collect the information I need to file with BC Registry. We have gone from eight Board members to twelve so I’m looking forward to being able to share the load. We have a new secretary so that has dropped off my list but I have some work to do to transfer all the information over to him.

I’ve cleaned up some of my electronic Inbox but my paper inbox is overflowing. I may take some time with what’s left of the afternoon to tackle that.