Wednesday, September 12, 2018

After a busy morning I’m feeling lazy this afternoon. I had the furnace people here just after eight for our yearly maintenance check. While the technician was doing his thing I washed, peeled, sliced and froze four bags of apples off our tree. I think this was probably our best year yet for apples. I’d like to get them picked just a bit earlier as some of them would have been good for eating fresh but there were just a few too many bruises on them to make them appealing.

Pat came home as a walk-on on the noon ferry and after I picked him up we went out for lunch. I had some Texada tickets to deliver to my friend who works at the quilt shop so I walked up there after we got home. I took along some sample blocks of my Farmer’s Wife quilt and Barb helped me pick out a fabric that might work for the sashing; it is lighter than I was thinking of but it has lots of colours in it that will be a good match for the many colours in the blocks. I also took the “outside” fabrics from my Farmer’s Daughter blocks; again we picked a light coloured fabric that has what I would call starbursts of colour. I didn’t have my quantities with me so I’ll have to go back up to actually purchase the fabrics.

We’re off to the movie tonight. I missed the first of the Cinematheque series last week due to a meeting and I’m looking forward to seeing some good movies on a regular basis for the next few weeks.

Monday, September 10, 2018

I didn’t get to hand stitching the binding on my cards last night so, over a couple of cups of coffee, I finished them this morning. Then I went out to do a few errands and by the time I was home it was almost noon. I made a trip to the Hall to pick up a rental fee, a stop at the grocery store for some cake ingredients, a stop at Walmart and, finally, a stop at Staples to pick up some posters.

Since we are hosting the House Concerts on Texada I thought I should upgrade my towels over there – we are currently using beach towels as that was what was on sale when we took possession last year. We also acquired the sofa bed recently and we needed sheets for that; our extra sheets are required at home for the concerts here. I also bought some curtain rods as we are hoping to hang some quilts at the cafe to give the shows more ambience.

It was almost noon by the time I got home. When I went to check for mail (there wasn’t any) I thought I should check on the apples. There were some on the ground so I knew it was time to pick them. I have a Safeway bag overflowing so I’ll have to do something with them over the next couple of days – probably cut them up and freeze them for apple crisps. While I was out there I checked the grapes and, based on the one I tasted, they too are ready to be picked. I’ll have to do some research but I’d like to juice them and freeze the results. There are way too many of them for eating and I already have a shelf full of jelly.

After lunch I baked a cake for Guild tomorrow – we’re celebrating September birthdays. I was to make a cake in August but I jammed out and bought one – it was just too hot to even think about turning the oven on but our ladies were not pleased. While the cake baked I finished my book so it can go back to the library, on time, tomorrow (and I can pick up my new one). We have a few gluten-free members and we usually bring them a treat but I forgot to pick something up so I went back out this afternoon and got something.

I’d really like to spend some time cleaning up my sewing area tonight – trust me, it is a mess – but I think after supper I’ll probably sit with a Farmer’s Daughter block and sew for the evening.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

When I got up this morning I thought I might go out and run some errands but that isn’t the way the day unfolded. It was stormy most of the day – rain and wind. Although there is a small stream of sunshine at the moment I can see the next rain shower moving in from Savary Island. I could have stayed in my PJs all day; I didn’t poke my nose out the door and the door was never even unlocked.

This being my card and block day I spent all morning prepping various projects. I did some hand stitching on a couple of cards and I finished this week’s Splendid Sampler block. That particular block involved some hand stitching, then a bit more prep work and more hand stitching. I had a quiet afternoon stitching everything.

Tonight I’m back in my sewing room piecing a card and finishing up some blocks that I started on Thursday. Once the piecing is finished I’ll have another card to quilt. And I hope to get the binding on three of the cards and get them stitched down – I have a new series lined up on Netflix!

And if I get all that finished tonight I’ll have to spend some time with my book tomorrow; I got a notice from the library today that another book that I put on hold is ready to be picked up.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

At many times in my life I’ve played instruments; when I was younger I was able to keep up with the practicing. Mum, Miss Burkowski, and Mrs. Raycroft kept me on track with piano and it was just plain fun playing and performing with Roberta and Jackie on my guitar.

As I’ve grown older I’ve tried a few other options. When one of the kids had a flute left over from school I took up lessons – for about six weeks. I wasn’t good at it and I hated to practice.

Since coming to Powell River I took up the ukulele. I took lessons, I joined a ukulele jam session but, again, I didn’t practice. My excuse for not practicing was that I couldn’t sing so it wasn’t as much fun as the jam nights, but without the practice I wasn’t up to par for the jams. I haven’t been back for at least a year, probably longer.

I sold my ukulele today and no matter what fun instrument shows up on the doorstep I’ve given up my dream of ever performing again!