Wednesday, August 12, 2020

For the last couple of days I’ve seen red through the leaves of the apple tree so I went out this morning to pick them. I don’t often get the variety of apple that turn red; we only get a few and they often fall to the ground before I get to them.

I picked two buckets full (from all the varieties) and they are soaking in the sink right now. I’ll sort through them and cut some for apple crisps, make some apple sauce with some and, maybe, I’ll be able to have a few fresh ones.

While I was in the yard I cut back a few of the daisies in the corner by the apple and then I started cutting back the grape and the wild morning glory. If left alone they both attach themselves to everything and could take over very quickly. I’m far from done but when I look out the window they aren’t the first thing I see. The mornings are a bit cooler these days so I’ll try to get out again tomorrow.

I didn’t do any sewing today but I did a lot of prep work. My next clue in the Hex-Along was released so I’ll get the fabric and templates cut tonight and maybe start basting them. I also drew all the templates for the aprons that will be on my Farmhouse quilt; lots more cutting for tonight.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

I started my day with a visit from the Orkin man to remove a wasp nest that has been growing and growing over the last month. We first noticed it before our extended stay on Texada; although we were home a couple of times it was never at night so we couldn’t spray it. The next time Pat was home for the night he decided the nest was too big for him to tackle with the can of spray so we called in the pest control guy. But he was on holiday for a week and it wasn’t until today that he was able to come over and get it down. I didn’t watch to see how he did it but he said he was fully suited up and they were trying their best to attack him.

These were Bald-Faced Hornets and they are very aggressive. He said this was the largest wasp nest that he had taken down this year and the first for this type of wasp. I’m just glad it is gone although I have to say I have sat out on the back step, on the opposite side to where the nest was, and I was never bothered. I wasn’t able to hang clothes on the clothes line but that wasn’t a big hardship.

The second nest I had to deal with today was a rat’s nest of yarn. The skein of yarn I am using for Taylor’s blanket didn’t unravel properly; I wasn’t able to start it from the centre so ended up knitting from the outside of the ball to the inside. I was having trouble this morning getting the yarn to unwind so I decided to get at the centre and wind it into a ball before carrying on.

If you’ve ever done this you will know that it is just a matter of finding the right loop to pull through the rat’s nest and everything more or less unravels. This mess was no exception except that it took almost eight hours to find “the right loop”. Pat said I was very patient but after about hour four my patience turned more to stubbornness.

It’s done now and I have to say the entire day was quite relaxing as I worked my way through the mess.

Monday, August 10, 2020

The goal today was to get at some quilting. Many months ago I started quilting a project in the workshop on Texada. When I worked on other projects at home I realized that quilting wasn’t working well. I thought it was because I didn’t have the sewing table for my quilting machine. A couple of weeks ago we brought the sewing cabinet back to Powell River. I quilted a couple of cards but that really wasn’t the quilting that needed to be done; I needed to get back to some free-motion quilting.

I had a chance to test things today and it didn’t go well. In one small space I broke the thread twice and then broke two needles. Obviously the sewing cabinet wasn’t the problem. I’ve switch back to doing straight lines and the sewing is going okay but I’m not happy. The project is one that I don’t really like – a Guild Block of the Month that I don’t think anyone else finished (at least they weren’t showing it off). I think once this is done it may become a blanket for George!

At least my daily block turned out well.

Sunday, August 9, 2020

I’ve had a busy day but there is still one more thing to do before I quit for the day.

First thing this morning I finished the repairs on Mum’s afghan. When it was done I decided I should throw it in the wash to be sure the fixes I made didn’t come undone in the wash. It was okay.

I was two weeks behind on one of my summer mystery projects so I wanted to finish at least one of the clues. As it turned out both steps involved half-square triangles so I forged ahead and finished both clues. It feels good to be able to set it aside until next weekend when I expect the next clue.

I debated about doing a daily block but it was a small one and it was pinwheels (which I love). How could I not do it!

I need to get the parcel ready to send to Christy tomorrow. This mailing will require a trip to the post office so I’ll stock up on some items while I’m there – two different denominations of stamps and a few more express envelopes. It will probably be the largest single purchase I’ve made during the pandemic. Any time I’ve gone to the post office (drive-through letter box) there has been quite a line-up; I hope to be there when they open and hopefully avoid any rush.

When I dragged out a couple of the bins of yarn for repairing the afghan one of them had some afghan patterns included. I’m itching to start one but I feel I can’t until I have Taylor’s new blanket done. I’d say I’m about halfway there so I’ll work on that this evening.