Saturday, July 15, 2023

It’s always a good day when I get to use my glue gun. But before I get to that I’ll do a little catching up.

I’ve had a wonderfully relaxing time on Texada but I’m back in Powell River for a week. Pat has some recording sessions booked for early next week and I’d have to be quiet while they were in session. Since I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything (including use the washroom, sew or move around) I decided it would be easier to be at home. I’ll be sewing with Stacia and Deloise on Thursday and the project I’m working on will be very tricky and not one I wanted to do on the sewing machine I have on Texada.

Speaking of sewing … I moved my sewing equipment from the workshop to the studio. It took a few different configurations before I got it arranged so everything was workable and I still had room to move around. I used the design wall to sort out a quilt top; once that was stitched together I put up 154 blocks that will be the centre of another quilt and Pat worked his magic at arranging them. I just barely got those together before we came home. I still have two more quilt tops to put up on the design wall but I may not get to both of them this time.

I spent some time working on a small wool embroidery project. Stacia, Deloise and I are going to be working on a larger project but I wanted to get in some practice before we started. I’ve not done much in the past, although judging from the number of patterns and pieces of wool felt I have I must have planned to do much more. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the process and can’t wait to get started on the larger one. I was also working on a cross stitch pattern that I started at the Lodge in Vancouver. I didn’t spend as much time in the hammock as I thought I would but I still got a lot of reading done. I’ve posted my books here if you want to see what I was reading.

I’ve had a busy day today at home. I started emptying and sorting out the bins I brought back from Texada and putting things away. I sorted out a bin full of photos when I was on Texada and hoped I was finished but as I was putting things away I found enough more to fill another bin. They will go across with me on my next trip. I’ve done a bit of shredding too as I don’t like the photos to just go into the garbage or recycle, although that would be much quicker.

I was looking for fabrics for a mystery quilt I’m doing this summer and that meant a dive through my fat quarters. I found a few and put everything away. But then I decided I didn’t have enough variety so I dug out some yardage and did another dive through my fat quarters. And to finish off my time I did a third dive to pull some fabrics to send to Emma.

I had a knitting book to put away and that just led me down a big rabbit hole. I sorted through all my knitting and crochet patterns; some I kept but many I will be giving away and some are just throw aways that were copies of patterns I got from the web. There were a couple of magazines that I had marked for knitting patterns but on second look I decided I wouldn’t keep them. There were a couple that had cross stitch patterns that I liked and wanted to keep so they have to go into a separate collection. I found a pattern book with Aunt Almeda’s name on the cover and I’ll send it along to Marlene as she is quite the knitter. I also found a couple of patterns that might have been Grandma McKnight’s that will be making their way to Audrey and Jackie (whether they want them or not!).

Now, back to the glue gun. As I was sorting through the new bins of photos that need to be sorted one rather nice box had the leather binding coming off. I remember getting a set of three stacking boxes at a yard sale a long time ago – one has some small quilt projects in it, and two of them had photos. By fixing the binding I’ll have another bin to put something in but I don’t think it will be photos – maybe my new wool embroidery project?

This is rather a long-winded post but Pat kept urging me to get back to regular posts. Tomorrow I’ll deal with the updates to our yard.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

We got over to Texada on the late afternoon ferry yesterday. We haven’t been here since February (?) so before we unpacked we did some vacuuming and general cleaning. We unpacked the food but I didn’t unpack anything in my space.

When we were having coffee on the deck this morning I said that I’d hope to hear the loons. Just a few minutes later we heard them but from a long way off. They kept calling and at one point Pat said they must be quite near. And, again, just a few minutes later two of them flew overhead.

We weren’t quite so lucky when we walked the trail to see if there were any turtles out at Emma Lake. We stopped for a bit at the bridge; there was not even a trickle of water getting through. We could hear things plopping in the water but all we were able to see were some water snakes.

Thanks to Stacia I was able to make it back up the hill to the studio. She suggested taking a chair and setting it halfway up. We did that and found a spot in the shade to leave it. There are no benches on the trail but I did find a log to rest on for a bit. And I was thankful for that chair.

This afternoon we moved most of my sewing equipment from the workshop up to the studio. I don’t know how I’m going to fit everything in but I have lots of time to sort it out. The only crafting I managed to fit in today was a bit of reverse stitching on a crochet project and then just a little bit of doing over.

We got the hummingbird feeder set up. It took awhile for the birds to find it but they’ve been at it pretty steady this afternoon. I’m always surprised at how aggressive they are. They chase each other away and we only seem to have one at a time.

We also managed to get a new hammock set up; it was a gift to Pat from Elizabeth. It is so much easier to get in and out of and has its own cover for shade. It will see a lot of use this summer.

And for the in-between times of the day I’ve been reading and playing games on my iPad. Not much different from home but I feel much more relaxed already.

Monday, June 26, 2023

Rather than walking the sea walk today I made a round trip to the library, with a stop at the post office on my way back. It’s the first time I’ve done the round trip; it was nice to get my steps in as well as do a couple of errands.

The walk to the library might have been easier had I not been returning a 900 page book. But then the walk home might have been easier had I not been carrying two new books that amounted to about the same number of pages. I was able to sit and rest a bit at the library but by the time I was home I really didn’t feel much different from doing the sea walks.

I’m almost finished packing for Texada just in case we get away tomorrow. We’ve been iffy about going but this morning Pat said we should just go over and he will come back on Thursday to deal with the garden people. I’ve been looking forward to the trip for so long but, if necessary, I guess I could wait another week. I said as long as there was enough food for the days Pat is away I’ll be fine – there will be no shortage of projects to work on. That is assuming all my bins fit in the truck!

I’m almost at 5500 steps for the day so I’ll just finish packing up and then I’ll sit and rest for the rest of the afternoon – unless I decide I have enough energy to clean up some of the pots on the deck.

Saturday, June 24, 2023

I missed a day of walking because I had a bad night the night before. In hindsight we think I might have had too much sun on one of my afternoon walks. I always have sunscreen on but that particular day I didn’t have my hat; it was windy and much warmer than I anticipated when I set out. My hat fits more securely without hair but I’m still getting used to that.

We had the gardener/landscaper here on Thursday. They cut the grass on the boulevard right down and have laid most of the bark mulch. They have weeded a couple of spots and we have a new tree in one corner. They will be back next Thursday to, hopefully, finish up and to put in some more plants. I’m not convinced they will finish next week though as Pat and I keep coming up with things to ask about and agree to have done.

We had a load of soil delivered to our driveway and, in order for the truck to get in, we had to move both of our vehicles. Pat’s truck is in and out regularly but my car has only been driven once since last October when I had my surgery. Pat took it out of the driveway but that evening I drove it around the block and got some gas while he was at a concert.

I wasn’t at all nervous (I thought I might be) and had no difficulties. Today I drove myself to the sea walk as Pat has his restaurant gig tonight and didn’t want to come along. I remember when I used to be annoyed that we had to drive somewhere in order to go for a walk but I totally get it now. I might be able to walk down the hill but it is doubtful that I’d make it back up again.

As usual, for the afternoon after a long walk I won’t do much of anything. I spent the morning cutting fabric for the project I’ll work on when Stacia, Deloise and I have our sewing day. I need to sort out some threads for our wool project but I may finish my book instead of doing that.