Tuesday, December 10, 2019

I’m not sure if was the sleepless night worrying about our plumbing or perhaps the rich clam chowder I had for supper but I was sick during the night. I felt well enough this morning to think about sewing but decided not to bother. I had sewing I wanted to get done but I knew if I went I’d be up and down taking photos and when I came home I’d have to write the blog. And I’d have to check mail at the Hall and make a deposit, as well as make a stop at the Post Office. All of a sudden it felt like too much so I stayed in bed awhile longer.

Plumbing issues have all worked out. The restoration people are talking to the insurance people and our emergency plumber charged us his “regular” rate as opposed to his “overtime” rate which saved us a lot of money. Our insurance deductible won’t break the bank either. The fans are blowing in the basement, along with a dehumidifier. The restoration people were back today – it is drying, but it isn’t dry yet. The towels have all be laundered but there is no cupboard to put them in as they took all of that out of the bathroom.

I did a bit of Guild and Hall work at my computer this morning before deciding I wanted a nap this afternoon. I think I’ll dig out my sewing machine now and see if I can get something done before dinner.

I started a new knitting project last night – knitting from both ends of the yarn skein. I found some really Chunky yarn and I had a pattern from Deloise that I wanted to try. I didn’t have the yarn the pattern called for but at some point I figured out the needle size and amount. I was knitting away before I realized the yarn would make two scarves, but how would I know when I was half-done the skein. My solution was to dig out another set of needles and knit one scarf from the inner ball and another one from the outside of the ball. It gets a bit twisted from time to time but so far it has worked well.

Monday, December 9, 2019

After the excitement of yesterday I managed to settle in today and get a start on tidying up – cleaning needs to wait a bit longer.

We were able to get a plumber in late yesterday afternoon to find the leak in the basement – a pipe inside the ceiling of the bathroom had sprung a leak. We had the leak fixed and the water turned on by shortly after seven. We don’t have the bill yet and it won’t be cheap but we are pretty sure our insurance will cover it. The restoration people were here within fifteen minutes of our call this morning so things are happening; carpet has been ripped up, furniture and book cases moved and fans are running. Nothing we can do now but wait. I’ve started washing the towels I used to help mop up the wet from the carpet – three loads of them and I used every towel we had.

I have my project packed for tomorrow (cards) and in order to do that I had to sort through a mess on my cutting table. While I was sorting I’ve put away quite a bit of my Christmas fabric. A bit more clearing and that bin can be put away for the year. And as I tripped (or stepped) over things on my path to downstairs and/or the other room I’ve been clearing the floor. Still a long way to go but at least I’ve started.

I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon going through the minutes of the Guild meetings from 2006 to 2012. I’m archiving the blog posts and wanted to add in the executive and committee chairs to the archive. It wasn’t always easy to find but I have enough to make it look like I tried. I may have to offer to be Secretary at some point so the binder can be organized the way I’d like it to be.

I don’t expect to do much more today – maybe a bit of Hall stuff so I can make a deposit tomorrow.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

It didn’t take me long to do the appliqué work on my last project this morning. I’ve left my sewing machine set up on the kitchen table as I may have some time tomorrow to stitch up a few cards – I’m never really finished until it is too late to send something away!

The last of the packages are wrapped and ready for the mail tomorrow. I felt so good about finishing up that I had my Christmas music blasting away while I worked.

So now that I have no further excuses I really must get down to some cleaning. But where will I start? There is the day to day mess on the main floor (kitchen and living room) or do I dare attempt to find the floor in my crafting rooms upstairs?

I’ll go have some lunch now and think about it.

UPDATE: Lunch and cleaning didn’t go as well as I anticipated. When I went downstairs to watch a Christmas movie while I had my lunch I noticed an odd noise – like Pat had left a piece of his equipment running. When I went to investigate I realized that the bathroom floor had flooded and that the spillover had run into the spare bedroom, the family room and the sauna.

I called Pat (on Texada) and he told me how to shut off the main water line. Then I started calling plumbers. Pat took the next ferry home and called a few more plumbers. Eventually we found someone who actually answered the call and, as I write this, he is cutting a hole in the ceiling downstairs trying to determine where the pipe has burst.

Saturday, December 7, 2019

I’ve been busy today and making good progress but, to be honest, it has felt like a day off. I have all the hand stitching done for all my projects. There is a bit of appliqué work to be done and then I can say I’m finished. That’s not to say I won’t try to squeeze in just a few more things, but I feel like the pressure is off.

The show last night helped to put me in the mood. Although it wasn’t a Christmas show there were a few Christmas songs thrown into the mix. The Hall was full (always nice to see) and there were no familiar faces in the crowd which means a whole new audience were introduce to the facility. Although there was talk during the show of bringing the performers back to a larger facility the organizers after the show said how nice it was to have reasonable rental rates.

I’ll get the appliqué cut out and tomorrow I’ll bring my sewing machine downstairs and finish those projects; my room is too messy to even consider setting up my machine there.