Wednesday, November 8, 2017

I’ve had a couple of busy days but I’m far from ready to leave tomorrow.

Tuesday’s bee was productive – I got a couple of prototypes for Christmas started. It was enough that I changed up the plan a bit! When I got home I had more Cranberry Hall stuff to get ready and then I headed off to QiGong. It wasn’t until I checked my mail before going to bed that I realized I hadn’t written either the Guild’s blog or my own journal.

We went out for breakfast this morning and then stopped at Canadian Tire on the way home. Both those stops were actually timesavers – a Magpie’s breakfast meant I didn’t need any lunch, and we were able to pick up some mats for the Hall that we had agreed to get at the last meeting. It doesn’t look good if the President and Secretary/Treasurer don’t fulfill their obligations.

For the rest of the morning I gathered together stuff I need for the retreat. Along with that I added things we need at the studio to the pile. I’m really only working on one project at the retreat but I threw in a couple of hand stitching bins just in case. I cut batting for my project but I still need to piece a few bits together. I have all my tools ready to go but nothing is in the car yet (except for Guild equipment that I loaded into my trunk after the bee yesterday).

I had a lot of errands to run this afternoon – post office, library, groceries, $ Store, bank and a second grocery store. My best stop (and most expensive) of the afternoon was at the fabric shop. My new project method required more fabric and I was glad to have lots to choose from. I almost always run into someone I know so there is visiting as well.

I have a bit of time before we have to leave for the Board meeting so I’m off to get a few more things sorted and packed.

Monday, November 6, 2017

I didn’t get much further on my quilting yesterday. After I wrote my post I went back to the machine and within a dozen stitches I ran out of bobbin thread. I just couldn’t bring myself to wind another at that point in the day so stopped. I finished my first Prayer Shawl last night while I watched Netflix; I have one with a different pattern on the needles now.

I had a bit of a shock when Pat came in the door from Texada. I was working on border three (of four) and thinking my morning was going very well. But Pat comes home on the noon ferry – could it be noon already? Fortunately not – he was packed and ready to go this morning and caught an earlier ferry. I still had enough time to finish my quilting before lunch. I intend to do a scrapping binding on the quilt (since it is made up of scraps) so I pulled a few strips from my stash. I need almost 400 inches of binding so it will be an ongoing project (probably a new leader and ender).

I have a couple of projects packed for the bee tomorrow and I even made a start on pulling projects for the Texada retreat. I had a plan in mind for what I’d do at the retreat and then I started thinking about Christmas and that has thrown everything off just a bit. There is always a Friday night project and I’ve pulled some fat quarters from my stash for it. We also need to take strips of turquoise and burgundy fabric for “something”, as well as a meter of fabric for a new game; I see a trip to the fabric store in my future!

I’ve almost finished my reports for the Cranberry Hall meeting on Wednesday – I feel like I’m gaining that extra hour today rather than yesterday. With what is left of the afternoon I’ll try to find some instructions for lining a couple of Christmas stockings that I’ve embroidered.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

If you changed timed this weekend, how did you spend your extra hour? I think mine was spent changing all the clocks. We normally do the time change Saturday evening but I totally forgot about it. Fortunately when I woke up at seven (on my clock) I immediately remembered the time change. I’m sure every clock in the house is set a few seconds off one another but they are all in the right ball park!

I don’t think I’ll ever finish this quilt. I’ve worked at it all day and just now I thought I had only the borders left to quilt but I found three squares that I missed. I’ve put so much work into it I sort of hate to give it away; on the other hand I’m rather tired of it!

I was out earlier in the day and picked up a few more Christmas gifts; it is all coming together really well this year. Of course there are still a few things to decide on, a few things to purchase and quite a few things I plan to make. I’ll pack up a few of the “making” things to take to the retreat next weekend.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

I had an early start to my day and was back at my sewing machine just shortly past eight. It turned out there were very few of those nine-patches remaining and I had them done in no time. The first craft fair was on at eleven and before it was time to leave I started on some Cranberry Hall reports – our meeting is on Wednesday.

The craft fair had all the usual suspects selling all the usual stuff – lots of jewelry and natural soap products and table after table of knitting and crocheting. I wasn’t tempted by anything and wondered why I even bothered to go.

I had my eyes open for some possible Advent calendar goodies but nothing appealed (or was cheap enough). After I came home I managed to decide on my game for this year’s calendar so that is a big hurdle passed. I still have to do the shopping but I think (I hope) it will be fun for everyone. It involves some sewing as well so it’s a good thing the retreat is coming up.

I’ve started on the free-motion part of my quilting. I’m using two different patterns – one is a single spiral (when I can keep my focus) and one is a flower – I had a lot of practice with this flower design when I quilted my Celtic Crystals and I’m comfortable (if not terribly accurate) doing it free-handed.

It’s quite a chilly day today and while I had my lunch I watched a show on Netflix. Lunch didn’t take long so I picked up my knitting. I would have liked to have kept at it but my quilt awaits.

We turn the clocks back tonight but I doubt I will notice the extra hour. What I do notice is that it is dark really early in the evening (actually late in the afternoon) and we have a two-hour time difference with Saskatoon. That makes it much harder to phone my grand kids (and their parents).