Monday, September 24, 2018

I was up at 5:30 this morning (Pat is teaching again this week) and I pretty much had my e-mail and Cranberry Hall work done before seven. I was meeting someone at the Hall at ten but until it was time to leave I finished my Splendid Sampler block from yesterday and started on my block-of-the-month for the Guild. We’re doing purple this month. I had a couple of errands to do while I was out but once I was home again I finished up the Guild block. I have another block pattern that I’m going to make each month in the appropriate colours. I’ll use the same block pattern and at the end of the year I’ll either have a small quilt for myself or an extra one to donate. I haven’t started on that particular job yet though.

After Pat finished teaching today I went outside and started picking grapes. I knew the vines were loaded this year and I wanted to get them before the birds did. I picked for less than half an hour and had a dishpan full; I think I only picked a quarter of the vines. I washed them and put them through the juicer before boiling them. We’ll freeze the juice if we can find room in the freezer; if not we’ll be drinking a lot of grape juice. The juicer made the whole process a lot faster but there it still required a lot of clean up.

My birthday celebration continued today with a lovely chat with Roberta, two beautiful cards in the mail, and two floral deliveries. I’m spoiled!

We have a show at the Hall tonight. I think I’m supposed to be selling memberships but if someone else gets to that table first I won’t argue. It feels like it has been a long day already. It is a show I’m interested in though, as opposed to one I need to work at.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

We spent the end of the week and the weekend on Texada where it did nothing much but rain the entire time. I hoped that on my birthday we could do some exploring through the back roads on the island but with a weather advisory we thought it best to stay indoors. Due to the dry summer, the heavy rain and high winds that were expected, there was some concern that trees could come down. Although it rained quite hard most days we didn’t get much wind at the studio and we never even lost power.

Although my birthday was quiet I heard from most of my friends and family. Thank you to everyone. We went out for dinner and even the wait staff wished me a happy birthday with a card and free dessert. One waitress, Nicki, has always called me by name but when Pat made the reservation Daniel, the other waiter, heard my name as Shirley so my card read Happy Birthday Shirley. It was Nicki who was working when we got there and we had a good laugh at the name mix-up. She said she had spent the afternoon feeling bad because she had been calling me “Sherry” for all these months. You can call me pretty much anything you want if you give me free dessert!

I was able to get in a half-hour walk one afternoon. Pat plays bridge on Friday and I arranged to walk the trail into town to meet him at the Legion. It wasn’t raining when I left the studio but I had my rain jacket in my backpack and I was wearing my rubber boots and rain hat. I was in the forest for most of the walk but before I exited the trees I put on my rain jacket for the last little bit. It started to pour again just as I got into the Legion but I had a ride home so it was okay.

Pat was recording on both Friday and Saturday so I had to be extra quiet – not that it is much of a problem. I worked on a cross stitch project that will keep me busy for many more such recording sessions.

We planned to come home on the noon ferry today but it didn’t take long to clean up (we have a concert over there next weekend) so we made the early ferry. I’ve been puttering since we got home and I think the day will be over before I accomplish much of anything.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

It was another early morning but I put it to good use doing a bit of computer work and catching up on some e-mail and Cranberry Hall work. While I waited for Pat to take a break from his teaching I did some cutting for a couple of new projects that are due soon.

As I waited for my toast to pop I stood and looked out the patio door. Almost immediately I could see whales – two pods of them. They were in the vicinity for probably 20 minutes – certainly worth letting my toast get cold. When I finally sat down for breakfast I saw another two heading down the coast. We’ve seen a couple of humpbacks quite often over the summer but three pods in one day is quite remarkable.

After Pat finished teaching we headed out for lunch and then caught the afternoon ferry over to Texada. When we checked the weather a few days ago it was supposed to be sunny on my birthday and I wanted to explore some of the back roads over here. It started to rain on the crossing though so we may not do that. I’ll be comfy and content whatever the day brings.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Pat is teaching this week and has a very early start – 5:30 AM. I didn’t hear him get up and shower prior to then, but I heard him talking to his students at 5:30 and there was no going back to sleep. I had lots of time to pack up for the bee, have a couple of cups of coffee, and do a bit of computer work before heading out.

The sewing went very well today. I got a label stitched onto the back of the Community Quilt. When I added it to the cupboard it was the only finished quilt in there. I thought about bringing another one home but I’ve got a lot of things of my own that need quilting; with my planned sewing trip with Stacia and Deloise, the November Retreat, and Christmas I didn’t see having much time for anything extra.

I finished a project of my own today. I had the piece quilted before I packed it up so I cut borders, a label, and a sleeve. I’ve been hand stitching at the bees for most of the summer and it was nice to be using my machine today.  The hand stitching was finished before leaving the bee this afternoon. It’s always good when you pack up on a finish.

I’ve been finishing up the last bits of yarn in my scrap basket in the evenings – hopefully by the end of the TV watching tonight I’ll have it all gone. Not to worry, I’ve already picked out the next bin that will be emptied into the basket.