Monday, July 1, 2019

I spent most of the weekend in my Texada studio and I loved every minute of it. I quilted two small quilts, made a card, and started a new project.

I thought I would post a few photos of my new space.

This is where I sew. It looks pretty stark but maybe that is why I get so much done as there are no distractions. The design wall looked big at home but it is too tiny in the new space. I’ll be looking at getting some foam insulation panels to cover one of the walls.

This is the other end of the room. We hung my Farmer’s Wife Sampler on the wall. In fact we hung it three times. First time it was too long so we had to hang it sideways; second time the flower basket blocks were upside down; third time it was staying up no matter what! I sat in my chair and did some embroidery and except for needing a light by my chair it works perfectly.

This is what you see when you come into the workshop. So far this side isn’t being used much. I sandwich on this side and, when necessary, I have my ironing board and iron ready to go. The table on the far end will move to the other side on another trip.

The boom at the far end, and the shop vac, are used for scaring away critters that seem to be living in the attic. The first weekend I sewed here I heard nothing but this weekend there were several times when I heard scrambling above me. A few knocks on the ceiling didn’t seem to scare anything in particular off but I feel better knowing I might be able to keep them away. We’ll be looking for another ultra-sonic rodent deterrent at Costco this week to put up there.

Thursday, June 27, 2019

I spent the morning upstairs in my sewing room re-arranging yet again. My cutting table wasn’t working out so I turned it around and that opened up a lot of other opportunities. I moved a filing cabinet, I moved my scrap fabric cabinet, I moved two bins of yarn. There is still a lot to do but I think the furniture is all in place now.

When I stopped for lunch Pat had started a grocery list for Texada. We’re heading over there tomorrow afternoon. He had avocados on the list; they are often on sale at the grocery store in Cranberry. Since I was headed to the Hall after sewing I said I’d stop in and see if they had any. But before I left I had time to look on the website and there were no avocados mentioned – at all.

Sewing went well. I finished the final four blocks of another quilt top. I’m going to do this one as a quilt-as-you-go. I’ve never used the technique so this will be a good learning experience. And since the quilt is for me I think I’m going to try using my rulers for the quilting; the blocks will be smaller than a big quilt so it seemed like a good time to practice with them as well.

I headed down to the Hall after sewing. I wanted to check the mail and I had a couple of things to drop off. It was a quick trip and when I got home I came upstairs to check Facebook. Pat left me a message to say that “giant avocados” were on sale (10 for $10) at the grocery store in Cranberry.

So off I went again; the avocados were large and we’ll take five to Texada and leave five at home.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

It was a stay-at-home day for me (well almost) and I got a lot done.

I spent the morning getting the Hall books ready for the accountants. I was pretty much ready to go but there were a couple of spreadsheets where the numbers didn’t match up exactly and I had to find out why. Mission accomplished and before a late lunch I took all my papers to the accounting office.

I had several messages that needed to go out regarding upcoming bookings at the Hall. I’m not officially in charge of the rentals, but I don’t mind taking care of some of the details. One show is moving forward and all the work spots are filled (and not by me) and another isn’t; neither the President nor I were unhappy that one was cancelled.

Since I heard via the grapevine that the fabric store had added a few new bolts to their 70% off table I decided to look for some backing fabric for a couple of my quilt tops. I’m not sure the backings match the front all that well, but for 70% off I can make them work. They both might end up as donation quilts so that was even more incentive to get them cheap!

Late in the day, as I was paying some Hall bills, I realized I needed to get a cheque signed. I was able to pay the taxes online but for some reason you can’t pay the water bill online. It was a short trip to catch our President before she left work, and I picked up some printing at Staples when I was out.

So I moved a lot of paper today; the amazing thing is that my desk extension is still clean. I wish I could say the same for my other surfaces!

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

I was up early this morning and by 8:30 I said to Pat I thought I was ready to go back to bed for a nap. But this is a sewing day so I headed out the door instead.

I packed a few cards to work on, as well as a quilt top that needed another border added. It was one I thought I finished a few weeks ago but I felt it needed something else. I had two cards and the border finished by lunchtime.

I could have gone home early but I took an extra bit of hand stitching in case I finished early. But I also had another small project in my bag – a fabric basket that I cut out to take to the Spring Retreat and never got around to working on. Cleaning up even a corner of my cutting table paid off I guess.

I had a bit of trouble with the instructions but Moreen arrived to sew after lunch. It was a pattern that she made for selling in the boutique at the quilt show so she was able to point me in the right direction (after I did a bit of reverse stitching). I just have a few of buttons to sew on the corners and it will be done. What I’ll do with it I have no idea.

I had a few errands to do on my way home; Pat was leaving to get one of his nails fixed just as I got home. He picked up Subway for dinner and headed out early to a PRISMA concert.

There were a lot of things I could have been doing but I couldn’t resist the urge to lay on the couch “just to rest my eyes a bit”. Thank goodness the phone rang after a bit more than an hour and woke me up. I’m hoping if I keep busy until bedtime I won’t lie awake all night or be up again at four tomorrow morning.