Wednesday, January 1, 2020

I wonder how long is it going to take me to write 2020 naturally, without having to stop and remember that we’ve moved into a new decade. I pre-wrote my journal entries between Christmas and now so it is a bit of a reality check for me to get back to a daily post.

We had a great holiday season. Our trip to Victoria was lovely and we enjoyed some quiet time. Many of the restaurants that we wanted to dine at were closed for the holidays so that was a bit of a disappointment. I looked forward to shopping but found that the stores in the downtown area cater mainly to the tourist crowd. Even the stores in the mall were less than spectacular. That said, I managed to find items for my three January birthday packages. We attended a lovely choral concert that also featured a five-piece brass ensemble. It was held in Christ Church Cathedral, the oldest church in Victoria, and the sound was amazing. On the way home we had time for a visit with Peggy and Bill, as well as a Costco shop.

On the days between I’ve been puttering in my sewing room, napping and generally being lazy. I have a cold and I’m using that as an excuse for a nap most afternoons.

I stitched yesterday with the Guild and I’ll start back with my Thursday group tomorrow. Today the first UFO Challenge number was released – I’ll be working on my Disappearing 9-Patch. The blocks are done but I want to try a Quilt As You Go technique so I have some studying to do before starting.

I’ve also spent a good deal of time reading and knitting – I never run out of books to read or things to knit!

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

I know most of you get these posts the following morning so I’m wishing you a Happy New Year on New Year’s Eve!

2020 Resolutions

Photos: I’ll restrict myself to hoping to clear out one bin for each of the girls.

Music: I don’t look forward to many of the concerts (either Home Routes, Pat Buckna Presents or Cranberry Hall Presents). Sadly, in my mind, concerts have turned to work. I’m going to try to spend more time listening to music and less time in the quiet of my own thoughts.

Volunteer: My term for the Membership Committee is for two years so I’ll be continuing with this commitment. I’ll also carry on with the Blog and Facebook. Dare I hope to pass off at least one of my responsibilities for the Hall?

Needlework: I WILL finish the Princess and I have two other patterns that I’m itching to start. Plus I picked up a 5-lesson set of Hardanger embroidery patterns when we were in Victoria. I’ll try to get one of them done.

Knitting (and Crocheting): I intended to work on afghans this year but in December I found a bin of yarns that I’ll use up first, mostly for shawls and scarves. Then on to the afghans which should help empty a few bins.

Guild: There is another Challenge this year and I have my pattern and some of the fabrics already sitting in a bin. I’ve signed up for a few classes (Scrap Therapy, Trapunto, and a Mystery Quilt). We’ve continued with the Block of the Month so there will be a weekend where we put the blocks together into donation quilts. I hope to attend both the Spring (April) and Fall (November) retreats.

Books and Movies: I didn’t manage my 50 books last year but I’m going to try that number again – if I only pick good books I should be okay! We have passes for the Film Festival and I hope there are some good films coming either through Cinematheque or the Patricia itself.

Cards: I’ll continue making and sending the Splendid Sampler 1 and 2 blocks until I’ve made them all. After that, I may stop but I’m sure I have enough to get through another year.

Quilting: I’ve picked another dozen UFOs to make progress on, as well as identified another ten projects that I’d like to at least get started. Stacia, Deloise and I will meet in Edmonton for Quilt Canada in June and then head off to Panorama for a week of sewing. 

Cooking: This is a new one for me – I hoped I was done cooking forever! My lack of skill making my Guild party dish made me think I’d better keep my hand in (just occasionally) so I’ll try a few recipes from Mum’s book.

Monday, December 30, 2019

So how did I do on my 2019 Resolutions! You be my judge.

Photos: I am really going to try to sort through my digital photos and maybe even make a few photo books.

• I didn’t make a lot of progress getting through my photos. We made a photo book for Madison for her graduation. After that was done and I was putting things back into the photo bins I found another full photo album of her that I passed along to her as well. So, a few less photos to deal with but barely a dent in the task. I used some old photos as part of the 12 Days of Christmas but I made copies of my photos so there was no reduction in the numbers.

Music: We have three House Concerts (in Powell River and on Texada) scheduled for the Spring, along with three concert events in both places. Will we sign up for another House Concert season?

• We finished off the three House Concerts in Powell River and on Texada. We signed up for another year on Texada but turned the Powell River concerts over to another group. I’m surprised to say it but I actually miss the events. I feel very removed from the shows on Texada as the cafe take care of all the meals and, if the need is for more than one bed, they also put up some of the performers.
• Pat hosted (and I did by default) seven shows this year – some were done both on Texada and in Powell River. The highlight of the performers (for me) was the Connie Kaldor Family Band. I’ve been a Connie Kaldor fan for a long time and she didn’t just bring her sons along for the ride; they are very talented in their own right. The show sold out within weeks of being announced and we had to move from the Cranberry Hall to a larger venue.

Volunteer: I will finish my Library commitment in June and I hope not to be talked into serving on another committee, although I’ll continue to write the weekly blog and monitor the Facebook page. This is a Quilt Show year and I’m in charge of the door prizes. I’m hoping that after our AGM in May at least one of my Cranberry Hall Board duties will be taken over by someone else.

• The quilt show was a success and I was able to give out a door prize every hour over the two day. I certainly didn’t like asking businesses for donations so I won’t do it again. My Library commitment with the Guild ended and I passed it on to someone else. I was away when the AGM took place so I didn’t get nominated for any further committees. One of the members on the Membership committee was ill so I volunteered to help out during the busy registration months. The woman I was replacing has since passed away so I’ll continue on for this year and next. Except for the first two meetings of the new season my commitment is pretty simple – I do the computer work and distribute the membership list.
• I haven’t been able to get rid of any of my Cranberry Hall responsibilities. We had a couple of new people join the Board but none were willing to take over either the Secretarial or Treasurer duties. I had high hopes to be done with the Bookings but that hasn’t worked out either. When I’m away I am able to pass this off to our President so if I keep travelling I can get a break!

Needlework: I will get The Princess finished and I have one other project that is nearing completion. And I’ll get all those kits and patterns organized with my recipe cards.

• Big failure here. The Princess is almost done but I have no clue as to what the other project was that was nearing completion – I’m pretty sure it didn’t get done. As for organizing the kits and patterns with my recipe cards – at this point I don’t even know where the recipe box is!
• I moved my quilting to the workshop on Texada and I’ve been moving my cross stitching and needlework back to Powell River. This has worked out better for me and if I have a half-hour here and there it is easier to put in a few cross stitches than it is to do any quilting.

Knitting (and Crocheting): This year I’m going to focus on using up my sock yarn. I won’t make socks but the yarn works just as well for shawls and hats.

• Success here. I used up my container of sock yarn mainly for shawls. All were donated to the Salvation Army early in December.

Guild: I have the 2018-19 Challenge to do (a bag) and we are continuing with our block of the month program. I’ve signed up for a Jelly Roll Rug class and I hope to be attending both the Spring (April) and Fall (November) retreats.

• No problem fulfilling these goals. The Jelly Roll Rug remains unfinished but no surprise there.

Books and Movies: Last year I was at 55 books so I’ll up my challenge number to 50. We’ll be at the Film Festival in February and I see most of the movies in the Cinematheque series (spring and fall).

• I’m not going to make it to my 50 books, but I’m currently reading my 39th. There were some duds in the bunch that took me a long time to get through (Moby Dick for example).

• Not our usual number of movies this year – only 13 which includes six films at the Film Festival. If Pat is on Texada I seldom go out to the Cinematheque series on my own unless it is one I really want to see and, to be honest, there are a lot of movies out that I’m just not interested in.

Cards: I don’t see my numbers changing much here; if I’m short on time I will continue to rely on e-cards.

• I recorded 44 fabric cards made this year but I know for a fact there were some that were sent off without me photographing them. I sent out 23 e-cards from Jacquie Lawson.

Quilting: I’m signed up for at least two UFO challenges so hopefully a few will get done or moved further along. It is a quilt show year and I have two large quilts that I’m planning to have done. I currently have eight flimsies that need to be quilted. I’ll be sewing with Stacia and Deloise next fall and I already have two projects picked out for that time. I have a Community Quilt (rail fence) that is close to being finished. My Thursday sewing ladies are having an “at home” retreat in January and I’m already thinking of the log cabin I’m going to start work on. I’ll also hope to get at least one quilt done for one of my grandsons (three of them are still waiting), as well as one granddaughter.

• Taylor got her quilt (Frozen) for her birthday and I finished the two large quilts (Farmer’s Wife Sampler and I’m a Farmer’s Daughter) in time for the quilt show. I finished three miniature quilts and a runner. Of the ten quilts I finished one was a donation.
• The log cabin quilt remains a flimsie (not quilted) and I don’t even want to count the number of other quilts I have in progress and started this year. The UFO Challenge I joined online last year was useful – eight of my UFOs were completed and I made progress on four others.
  

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Placemats, placemats, placemats – so many placemats this year!

The wrapped gift that everyone picked in the 12 Days of Christmas Box was a placemat. I used two different patterns but each placemat was completely scrappy so no two were alike. Most of these were made at the Texada Retreat and finished the following week when I stayed on Texada. Yes, there are 13 placemats in that group!

There were still three more gifts that I needed to make so, since I was in the zone, I made more placemats.