Tuesday, July 2, 2019

I stayed up last night long enough to watch the fireworks. The house was really hot so when the sun started to set and it was cooler I went outside and mowed the grass. I use that term “grass” loosely because most of what I did was mow down the weeds that have grown up in the grass. I spent awhile hand watering the beds; I was totally soaked by the time I finished so I put on my pjs and lay under the ceiling fan until it was time to go out to the deck for the fireworks.

It was easy to pack up for today’s bee. I planned to get the binding stitched onto the two quilts I quilted over the weekend; I only needed to cut a few fabric strips. I had a couple of cards I wanted to finish (that were already packaged) and a few buttons that needed to be added to a fabric basket I worked on last week (also packaged).

It took me until noon to finish the bindings; I’ll spend a few evenings doing the hand stitching. I got some guidance on some embroidery I was working on; even though I thought I was making tiny stitches they apparently are still twice as long as they should be. I’m not sure I can make them much smaller but I’ll try. I couldn’t find the package for the second card (until I had given up and packed everything away) so I stitched the buttons on my fabric basket. I have no idea what I’ll use this for but I had it cut out so I thought I should put it together.

Pat came home this afternoon and brought back all the “stuff” I left in the truck because it was too much for me to carry yesterday. I’ll try to get all of that unpacked and unpack my bee bags too.

We’re off on the first ferry tomorrow heading to Nanaimo. Pat has a medical appointment so the truck and his ticket are covered; since it is mid-week and I’m a senior I also get a free ride. We hope to do a shop at Costco and, time permitting, we’ll meet Peggy and Bill for dinner.

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!