September 21, 2016

Thank you for all your good wishes for my birthday yesterday. A week ago Pat asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday; Tuesdays are generally my day for sewing but I said if it was nice I’d like to go for a drive. That could be taken as not much of a day out as we only have about 30 km of road either north or south of town. The sun was shining and we headed out in the late morning. We drove out as far as Saltery Bay (the ferry terminal to Vancouver) and then wound our way back through some side and back roads. We found a couple of beaches we weren’t familiar with as well as a new section of the Sunshine Coast Trail. The only thing that was missing was wildlife – I would have loved to have seen a bear somewhere in our travels.

It was back to reality today as I started some laundry and cleaning in preparation for our House Concert this weekend. Between loads I’ve worked on my birthday banner for the care home. Parts of it are working out as planned, but I’m having to re-design as I go along. I wondered how I would attach a sleeve for the photo but got that figured out. All was well until I got too close to the vinyl with my iron; that was my first bit of re-designing.

The top of the banner is finished and I have figured out a method of attaching the see-through sleeve (at the end of the project). The borders on the bottom were going to be much wider than I wanted so I’ve decided to do some pinwheels on either side of the photo. I may get to some of them yet today.

One of my cross stitch groups started a Stitch Along today and I have my project prepared. I’ll take it to Portland with me; I probably need to extend my stay by a few weeks if I hope to get all the stitching done that I’m taking!

Movie night again tonight!

Monday, September 19, 2016

I started my day (again) at Cranberry Hall. One of the groups left a payment in our mailbox last evening and, since we don’t have a lock on the box from the inside, I wanted to get to it right away. I had two other deposits to make at the bank – I tried to go on Friday morning after picking up a rental payment but the bank didn’t open until ten and it was only half-nine. I had a deposit ready from the concert at Cran Hall on Saturday so it was worth getting it all deposited in one trip even though I hadn’t planned it that way.

My prep time seems to have taken up most of the day and I don’t think I’ll get to any cleaning. My Leader and Ender project is nearly out out time – our Community Quilt weekend is at the end of October and I usually try to start putting my project together that weekend. I have lots of nine-patches made but I needed to cut out the solid pieces that will go with them.

Although I’m not quite finished basting the prepped pieces for my Farmer’s Wife block I cut out 160 more fabric pieces and about 64 more templates. I’ve got them packaged up to take with me when we go to Portland. I have two blocks that I’d like to stitch together but, not surprisingly, there are no irons at the accommodation. I may decide to pack my own but basting all of the pieces I prepped this morning will probably take more time than I’ll have available.

I also packed up two cross-stitch projects to bring with me. I have just a bit of work to do on the main piece of my Advent Calendar and then I’ll move on to the back stitching. There aren’t many colours involved with the back stitching so I decided to take it along. One of the Facebook groups I belong to are starting a Stitch-A-Long (SAL) on Wednesday so I have my Hummel pattern, fabric and floss ready to go.

Ukulele Club is on tonight and I’ve done a bit of practicing this afternoon. For what is left of the day I’ll start working my way through my scrap pile. I do a bit once a week and gradually, every so slowly, I’m emptying one bin and filling up several smaller ones. Is that really progress?

Sunday, September 18, 2016

I worked on my Blossoms quilt today. I’m not sure I’m happy with it.

I like the offset blossom blocks because it hides the fact that some of the blossoms aren’t perfectly centred in the background. But that meant there is an extra patterned piece in the border that is next to an already patterned piece.

I’ll put a navy border around the whole thing and hopefully that will take your eye away from those doubled up spots.

And if that doesn’t work I’ll hope that once it’s quilted it won’t show so much.

Saturday, September 17, 2016

It was pouring rain this morning so I had no desire to attend the Fall Fair. The grounds are pretty shaded and the rain wouldn’t soak in very well so not only would it be wet coming down on you it would be messy sloshing through the grounds. It was an easy decision to stay home.

I was scheduled to do some Farmer’s Wife blocks today but after my all-day disaster last week I decided to skip it for today. It was an easy decision to cross stitch instead. Unless I get very busy on my project I’m going to miss my September goal and then finishing it before December 1st might also be in jeopardy.

Dylan’s football game was live streamed this morning so I watched the game. There was no announcer so I had to be very aware of what was going on, particularly when #22 was on the field. When the game was over and #22 took his helmet off for the hand shake imagine my surprise that it wasn’t Dylan! I went back and read Christy’s message and I should have been looking for #28.

I talked to Christy after the game and I decided I wasn’t going to admit that I was watching the wrong jersey. When I said something about them winning the game she said they hadn’t won – even though I clearly saw two touchdowns. Not only was I watching the wrong player, I didn’t even have the right team! Fortunately they will be broadcasting more of their games this season and I hope to get it right next time.

There were only a few folks signed up for the afternoon guitar workshop so Pat said he might not serve tea and coffee. That suited me just fine and I stayed home. I’ll go down for the evening concert and help take tickets and clean up afterwards. There have been a few calls today about getting tickets and I hope there is a good turn-out for the show.