Thursday, December 15, 2016

Between an appointment at the bank this morning and the Guild party this afternoon I managed to make a little progress on my cleaning. I picked the room that I thought would take the least amount of work, but I’m not telling how much from this room moved across the hall to my sewing room to be taken care of at a later date.

I did most of my Christmas wrapping in this room, although I managed to keep the paper put away as I used it. It has been my ukulele practise room and I spent so many hours here working on the Advent calendar cross stitch. It is also where I keep the kids toys (for the few times that they visit) and generally, it is less of a mess than my sewing area.

While I was cleaning I did an inventory of the projects I have either started or are waiting to be started. Fortunately, in this space, there are more things waiting to be started and fewer works-in-progress.

Granted there is still dusting, vacuuming and a few “extra” things that need to be done but overall it is a useable room again. I want to get rid of the blue chair; I had been using it for my ukulele but I’ve moved my ukulele downstairs as Pat and I have been playing a few songs together. I’m hoping I’ll practice more if the instrument is handy while I wait for a kettle to boil or something to heat or cook.

The doll carriage now holds my most recent cross stitch projects – a couple that are in progress and a few more that are kitted and ready to go. Natasha’s Basket (as I refer to it) has my incomplete knitting and crochet projects; I have a crochet basket I’m making for myself and there are four small sweaters that will be going to the Salvation Army or BOND once they are done. The wicker basket is full of wool felt kits and patterns; fortunately there is only one work-in-progress. Dad’s cedar chest is full of quilt kits that I had almost forgotten I had.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

I thought I was all finished my Christmas presents but when my latest knitting project neared completion I decided to do just one more package. I dropped it off at the post office this afternoon, after spending a very leisurely morning watching some Netflix and finishing the project.

This afternoon the Library’s Memoir group launched their latest book – an e-book that you can read by clicking on the photo. Pat read the story he contributed to the book. There were only three readers so the time went quickly and then there were goodies after. I know several people from the various memoir-writing groups who have stories in this publication. One of our house concert regulars was another of the readers; I knew she and her husband had led a very interesting life but I had no idea she was writing stories about it.

I still haven’t made any progress in my studio. I think what is putting me off is that I’ve promised myself I’d do a clean-up and re-arrange before starting to sew again. It helps (or allows me to feel okay about putting it off) that I am always able to find something else to do. Without a plan for my days they tend to get away from me and, at the end of the day, I really haven’t accomplished anything. I do have some plans for tomorrow but none of them involve doing any of that cleaning!

I’ve done a bit of Guild work this afternoon. Our Guild party is tomorrow and they were looking for some games. At the bee yesterday I was given a sheet of questions and was asked to see if I could figure out what the answers should be; luckily I found the quiz on-line and printed the answers. While I was looking I found a couple of other games that might work for the party so I printed those off as well. I’ve also added all the riddles that I used in my Advent calendars so there will be lots to choose from. I’m neither on the Program Committee nor the Party Committee but somehow I seem to end up with these small “computer” tasks.

And speaking of computer tasks and the Guild, I’ve been asked to do up some samples of invitations for our 30th Anniversary party. No wonder no cleaning gets done!

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

I was out to the bee first thing this morning. I haven’t been for awhile and even though I really didn’t have anything to work on I was looking forward to it. I had some books to look through (the new techniques I want to learn) but at the last minute I threw in my knitting because the weeks at the Clubhouse are my hand stitching days. This was a Mini Meez week and, although I didn’t have anything physical to show, I took along my iPad with photos of the Christmas work I had done.

I did lots of visiting and not much knitting. Today was the AGM for the Senior Citizens Association to which, as a Timberlane Guild member, I belong to. One of our Guild members (and Tuesday stitchers) is the Secretary and she wanted to get lots of quilters out to try and oust many members of the current board.

There were less than a dozen of us quilters at the meeting and we didn’t have much influence. The Association have a new VP (a former Guild member) and a new Secretary (our current Guild member wouldn’t run because of the results of the vote for President). Both her and her husband have been very active in running the Hall and neither one of them would allow their names to stand this year.

The meeting was very contentious; there were all sorts of rules and by-laws broken according to some very vocal members (but not quilters). If I didn’t have to be a member I certainly wouldn’t be but unless they change something in our Guild relationship with the Hall it doesn’t matter much to me who is running things.

The meeting did waste the better part of the day though. A carload of us left the Clubhouse at about 11:30 and it was almost 4:00 by the time we got back!

We’re off to the movie tonight.

Monday, December 12, 2016

I thought what with having all my Christmas “stuff” finished I might be able sleep in a bit this morning. I guess I’m just wired to wake up early. I was awake at my usual time (7:00 AM) but decided to stay in bed awhile longer. I got up about eight, wandered out to the kitchen and then decided I’d go back to bed and see if I could go back to sleep. No such luck, but at least I stayed in bed until 8:30. There was no rush to get at anything so I spent more than an hour on my iPad checking mail, Facebook, and doing a puzzle. I decided that when I took my cards to the mailbox I’d stop at the bank and make a Cranberry Hall deposit; when I was getting the deposit ready I had a cheque to write on their behalf so while I was out I dropped that off.

I’ve been upstairs for more than an hour now and I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing – I have a few new ideas though so maybe that counts.

I’ve been saving my empty spools when the thread runs out and I think I’ve come up with an idea of how to use them. Stay tuned until next Christmas and I’ll see how that works out for me!

While I was reading my mail (it’s all about selling stuff this time of year) I came across a pattern that I really liked. The e-version was on sale for just $1.99 but when I investigated further it was from a book I was sure I had seen. I looked through my bookcase but didn’t find it so this afternoon I took another look at the pattern and decided I would order it. I’m glad I checked the Guild library listing first (I created it so I have it on my computer) and I see that the book is in our library so I’ll check it out the next time I’m at at the Guild.

For the rest of the afternoon I’ll attempt some clean-up in one or the other (or maybe both) of my studio rooms. I’d like to start working on one of my two new techniques but I think I’ll work better in less mess!