Thursday, July 18, 2019

I came home from the meeting with a bit of work that needed to be done before noon today. Before bed last night I wrote up and sent off a few documents to be reviewed by the Board.

My alarm was set for six this morning but when I woke up about five minutes to six I intentionally turned it off because I was awake. Then I promptly went back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until the Texada ferry blew its whistle at seven. So much for getting an early start on the day.

I did some proof-reading and then worked on Hall things until it was almost time to get ready to go to sewing. I intended to do some copying at Staples but when I got there I couldn’t find my print card so left without what I went for. I had some papers to drop off with another Board member but it was still a little earlier than my usual time to leave for sewing. I didn’t think Gail would mind if I was early but when I got there, at least twenty minutes early, Jessie was already settled in.

I’m working on my Disappearing 9-Patch as my Thursday project. I’m more than half-way done putting the sets of four together. I was able to put them up on Gail’s design wall and it is nice to see how they will go together. The sets of four will take some arranging but I can count on Jessie and Gail to help me with that.

And so here I am, back at my computer, doing a bit more proof-reading this evening.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

It isn’t really too stormy for weeds but I’m using that as an excuse for no getting out to the carport. It has been windy all day and threatening rain but, except for rain overnight, there haven’t been any showers.

I’ve been at my computer all day doing my proof-reading. It is slow going but I’m making progress. I’m more than a third of the way done, but not quite half-way there yet. I took a bit of time to go out to the bank (for the Hall) and the post office (to mail a couple of packages).

I have a Hall meeting tonight – for someone who specifically said I didn’t want to be on the Renovations Committee I seem to be attending a lot of renovation-related meetings. Hopefully, soon, the work will be underway and all that will be expected of me is to pay the bills.

I’ll get back to the reading now and get a few pages done before dinner.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

I spent five hours yesterday in the front yard pulling weeds out of the patio bricks. Pat gave them the vinegar treatment on Sunday afternoon and by Sunday night they had shrivelled up and turned brown. Most of them came out well but there were a few roots left behind. Next time I’ll keep a small spray bottle of the vinegar mixture and spray it on any roots that don’t come out. I’m sure I’ll be out there again before the end of yard season, and we’re always looking for a better plan.

After the patio was cleared I took time to dig out the weeds between the slabs on the sidewalk. That part went quite quickly. When I was done, I was DONE! I had a rest before hitting the shower and I was in bed early. I was feeling the extra exercise this morning but it didn’t keep me from sewing.

I had a few different things to work on today. I finished the card that I started last week before pressing off my stitching lines. I used a different pen for tracing and I had the card finished before lunch. It occurred to me (a week too late mind you) that I could have put the fabric in the freezer for a short time and those lines would have come back!

Next I trimmed up a quilt that Pat brought home from Texada on Sunday; I quilted it last weekend but it was too big to carry home and up the hill. I had the binding prepared before lunch but I didn’t get it attached until after lunch. I thought about packing up at that time but decided to work on one more thing before calling it quits for the day.

After the weekend I decided how I was going to sew my Disappearing 9-Patch blocks together. I managed to get a couple of them done before I packed up; this will be my Thursday project for the next while.

Tomorrow I’ll tackle the weeds in the cracks in the carport.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

The Guild had their annual summer retreat (this was our second year but I know we’re going back again) on Friday and Saturday.

I made good progress on a couple of things – a Guild class project (9-Patch) now has new life as a Disappearing 9-Patch. It wasn’t magic, it took a lot of work and I’ll continue with it until I have a finished top. It isn’t one of my UFO Challenges, but no one but me really knows what my challenges are so I may sneak it in.

When I was in Saskatoon I purchased a set of patterns to make seven miniature quilts. I finished one of them at the Retreat. I used scraps but I’m determined that even when I’m using scraps I’m going to give them a more organized look. I used a single line of fabric and doing that certainly helps. I hope to get it quilted on my next trip to Texada and I’ll be more than ready for our first meeting in September.

We took our own lunch to the retreat on Friday and ordered pizza for supper on Friday night. Kathleen made her fabulous lemon cheese cake so we were well looked after. Saturday lunch was a pot luck – I took a Spinach Salad. There were two kinds of broccoli salad, two kinds of potato salad, a pea salad and ham. And we had fresh-baked blueberry pies thanks to one of our quilters. We teased Donna that because she brought blueberry pie to the bee a couple of weeks ago and now blueberry pies to the retreat, we’d expect it to be a regular “thing”. Saturday supper was left-overs and they were good!

Since we all knew yesterday was the last day for the retreat we were constantly reminding ourselves that it was Saturday, not Sunday. From the moment I got up this morning I had it in my mind that it was Saturday – after all, it was the start of two days at home (sounds like a weekend, right?). I sat and did some hand stitching this afternoon so I think I’m back on track again with my days.

Pat gave the weeds the vinegar treatment this afternoon so I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.