Monday, January 23, 2017

It was a late night last night (after midnight) so I’m dragging myself through the day today. We made just over $100 for the concession; I haven’t checked the records but I think this is very close to the amount that we brought in when we asked for donations rather than pricing everything. It wasn’t as much work as I expected; Dee and I work well together. I took the coffee and tea urns that we use for our house concerts and that turned out to be much more efficient than using the 12-cup coffee pot and boiling the kettle all night. I really enjoyed the show too; as I was baking and getting ready for the concession it often slipped my mind that there would be some entertainment to the evening.

I’ve tried to stick to my regular Monday routine today. I started by cutting up and putting away a basket of scraps. I have a better way in mind for storing scraps but it means I need to clear out a few bins and so far that hasn’t happened. I cut the fabric for several cards, I cut the fabric for the first step in the next border for my Celtic Crystals, and I cut a few more squares for my Bingo quilt. That should be more than enough to fill my day at the bee tomorrow.

One of my Valentine cards requires some appliqué so I got the pieces traced – I was able to sit at the desk with my light box while I did that. I was surprised that I had time to stick the shapes to my fabrics so, at the end of the day, I’m further ahead on that project than I thought I would be.

I’ll either knit something easy tonight (because I won’t be alert enough to concentrate on a difficult pattern) or I may just sit and do nothing!

Sunday, January 22, 2017

I finished my baking before lunch – Rice Krispie Treats and what was supposed to be a gluten-free cake. I had a mix in the cupboard and decided it might be nice to offer some gluten-free treats at the show tonight. I took my freshly washed mixing bowl and utensils from the dishwasher, I added the eggs, water and vanilla. I added the butter – but I added it from our own butter dish so the gluten-free cake was ruined. Fortunately I realized what I had done before I offered it as a gluten-free option; we’ll offer the cake but it will be crackers and cheese for anyone who needs gluten-free.

I went out to the store and picked up the few things I need for the concession tonight. For the most part we just pulled coffee and tea from our cupboards; Pat assures me that there is enough sugar in the Song Circle box so I only needed to buy cream and milk. I was asked to put together a cash float; without knowing what we are charging for things I took everything from bills to quarters. We normally do our concession by donation but at the last meeting someone thought it raised more money if we actually charged specific prices. It means more work for the concession people but I guess more money is what we’re doing this for.

I finished the book I was reading on the Kindle. It is due back from the library in a few days so I won’t start reading another one from it.

I’ve finished putting all the blocks together for the next border on Celtic Crystals. I just have the top and the bottom to add; the sides are finished.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

I got a lot done today but it didn’t include much sewing.

I slept a bit later than normal so didn’t get started on my baking until after ten. Today I was making Mum’s Lemon Loaf – one of Pat’s favourites. I often make two smaller loaves but decided to just make the one loaf in my larger pan. Unless there is some left after the concert tomorrow Pat’s got all he’s going to get – the scrapings from the bottom of the loaf pan.

We talked about going out to look at bathroom vanities but Pat needed to go out to pick something up and I needed more time to finish my baking. Pat arrived home just as I was wrapping my loaf so we headed out. We don’t often go to the building supply store but they had a number of vanities to choose from and we’ve found one we both really like. It comes with a linen tower and a medicine cabinet should we decide to get all the pieces. We won’t purchase anything until our carpenter has a chance to look over the measurements. If we get it, the pieces come already assembled so we’ll save on labour costs.

We went out for a late lunch after we finished our shopping so it was almost three before I made it upstairs to sew. I’m stitching the blocks together today and hoping I have everything in the right order and on the proper side of the medallion.

While I waited on my loaf to bake this morning I basted some pieces for an English Paper Piecing card; I’ll get the pieces stitched together tonight so the card is ready to put together on Tuesday.

Friday, January 20, 2017

There hasn’t been much sewing done in the past couple of days, but I’m making progress and I’m still on track for a finished top by early next week.

Yesterday was paperwork and, because I’d done an entire day of it last week, I didn’t expect it would take long this week. Boy was I wrong! I’ve been bouncing back and forth regarding insurance for Cranberry Hall and I finally got the second quote yesterday. Sadly, after all my work, the quote was higher than we are paying now. It was a good exercise to go through; I dug out some of the history of the hall, I measured, I took photos, and found the age of various pieces of equipment in the hall. It will all be kept for the next time I (or someone else) think a competitive quote would be a good idea.

The files I received when I took over as Treasurer for the hall were in a cardboard box – bigger than a shoe box and crammed full. Whenever I have to look something up I have to dig through the box to see if I can find a piece of paper that might relate in some way to what I’m looking for. While looking up insurance-related information I knew I needed a better method. I remembered that we had a small, empty file cabinet in the furnace room and, with the new layout in my studio, there was room for it under the corner of my cutting table. Pat and I moved it upstairs this morning and, once everything is sorted, it should make my life much easier.

But back to yesterday’s paperwork. I know it was a good thing that I started the day by going through some photos. I’m trying to scan and consolidate many, many boxes and bins of photos and by doing a bit at a time I’m making some progress. By the time I sorted my way through one envelope of photos it was almost noon. I needed to make a Cranberry Hall deposit so I got that ready to go. Next I did a few updates to the Guild website and then it was on to Pat’s accounting.

I took a break early in the afternoon – I went to the bank, had some routine tests done at the hospital lab, and then picked up some groceries. I had volunteered to take treats to last night’s Guild demo; I knew I was going to be baking for the weekend so I decided to go easy on myself and took some cheese and crackers and some fruit. I finished off the paperwork when I got home, had a quick supper and was out the door again by shortly after six.

Last night’s demo focused mainly on methods to make flying geese. Some of my quilts have them as part of the pattern but for the most part I don’t make a lot. I have a special ruler (which I’ve never used) so I expected to pick up a few hints on how to use it. The timing was perfect for a lesson though because I’ve just decided to join a free quilt-along called Wild Goose Wednesday; 33 weeks of flying geese in various sizes and colours. I’ve done challenges from this company in the past so I know it will be fun.

And today has been very busy as well. Pat and I started the morning at his computer looking at bathroom vanities. We are (finally) going to remodel the ensuite and our choices locally are pretty limited. We will still go out and look at Rona and Valley Building but may either order online from Home Depot or take a trip to the Island. We are also considering having something custom made using a counter in the basement that isn’t being used. We’ll talk to Trevor (the fellow who did our maintenance work in December) next week and see what he thinks.

It took the rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon to get some baking done for the concession this weekend. I made cookies from a Shirley Bone recipe in the 2nd Wartime Church cook book. They turned out well and with the other cookies I have in the freezer I think that’s enough cookies. I also made an Applesauce Loaf; it looks good but what I’m dreaming of is Mum’s Applesauce Cake with the chocolate icing! We’ve had icing in the hall before though and it is way too messy.

I managed to get a bit of sewing done this afternoon; I put the last set of borders on the centre medallion. When Pat was helping to bring the filing cabinet upstairs he saw my Celtic Crystals on the design wall and suggested I just finish it off and not add the blocks; he thought I could make a second smaller quilt from them. I thought about it and rather liked the idea; at least we had a place to hang a smaller piece. I decided to lay out the blocks around the medallion and see what we thought then. The consensus is that we will add the blocks and another border, but leave off the final border the pattern calls for. The fabric for that border really doesn’t seem to match the colours in the blocks so I don’t think it will be missed.

I’m exhausted and my back is aching from all the standing so I think I’ll see if I can find something relaxing to do – maybe find some needles for a new knitting project (yes Christy, you may get that sweater by Spring).