August 17, 2016

One of the papers that came in my Cranberry Hall stuff yesterday was a note that there was a lightbulb that needed to be changed – Board Member #1 accepted the note and passed the message along by e-mail.

The President (Board Member #2) who usually takes care of maintenance notified everyone that he was out of town until Friday. Board Members #3 and #4 (Pat and I) volunteered to go to the hall and change the lightbulb. We notified all the Board Members by e-mail that we were doing it.

By the time we got home Board Member #5 responded to say she would go and change the bulb.

There are only 7 members on our board but I guess it takes most of us to get the job done!

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Today I wanted to get a couple of seams done on a new placemat project and then move on to my Celtic Crystals blocks. Before I even had my first cup of coffee though I was called into a Hands Across the Water meeting. I didn’t have anything to report other than that I have the recipe books in hand; I don’t really consider myself on the committee but they seem to think I am so I haven’t argued. Carola didn’t come along today so I had a bunch of stuff to report on her behalf.

It was close to eleven before I actually sat down at my machine. It’s been in the trunk of my car for quite awhile so I decided to give it a cleaning and some oil before I got started. I stitched the two seams for my placemat top and then started to look in my bin for my first Celtic Crystal block. It was then I realized that it is essential to use Best Press on these as most of the pieces are cut either once or twice on the diagonal. Since the sewing plans were thwarted I sat and cut fabric for the rest of the day. I have the final four blocks cut and will start sewing them next week. I hoped to get two done today; maybe with all the cutting done I can get four done next week?

It was almost four before I got home. I have a pile of Cranberry Hall “stuff” that someone dropped off and a message from the bank about our account to deal with. Before I get to that though I have a Guild blog to write.

Monday, August 15, 2016

The morning didn’t go quite as I had planned so my afternoon was a bit out of whack as well. Good thing I don’t do anything very important with my days.

I wanted to get my apple pie in the oven before the morning got too hot. It was lovely sitting out on the deck peeling, coring and slicing them. I mixed them up with the flour, sugar and spices and was ready to start baking by just past nine. But there were too many apples for my pie crust. I was afraid if I stacked the apples any higher I’d end up with a mess in the oven but I had about two cups left in the bowl. But what do you do with extra pie filling?

An internet search said to use it as a topping for ice cream or use it between layers of a spice cake – all of which sounded good but they were talking about canned pie filling. I finally found an apple loaf that would use up the apples I had (whether or not it was the amount called for in the recipe). It was a bonus that they baked at the same temperature as my pie – yes, there were two of them because I use the small foil pans.

My pie was done first and although it didn’t look very juicy the apples were cooked and the crust was a nice brown. As it cooled on the rack the pie started to deflate and ended up relatively flat for a pie. I think next time (if there is a next time) I will cook the filling on top of the stove before I put it into the crust and bake it. That way I’ll know ahead of time how much shrinkage there will be. The apple loaves turned out okay, but not spectacular. But if you put a big enough slice of cheddar cheese with the pie, and maybe a bit of butter on the loaf it will be fine.

My baking took up most of the morning and it was well past the cool of the day before I got outside to cut the lawn and boulevard. It hadn’t been done for close to three weeks so I had to go over the grass in the yard a couple of times; the first was mostly a cut and the second was to pick up the small mounds of grass that didn’t go into the lawn mower on the first round. I don’t worry much about the boulevard. It doesn’t get any water and the grass doesn’t grow well; I cut it mainly to keep down the weeds.

Finally, after a shower, I was able to get upstairs. I’ve declared Monday a prep day for all the projects I’m currently working on. I’m hoping that on the days I sew I can get right into the sewing part and spend less time looking for things. I have everything set for tomorrow (a new small project and a continuation of an old one). I have four cards packaged up and I have five more Farmer’s Wife Blocks packaged. With what is left of the afternoon (and there’s not much) I’ll take out the basting on some my Blossom flowers.

We’ve off to a vegan pot luck tonight and I still need to make my salad. It will go together quickly but I don’t want to make it until it is almost to time to go.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

I had so much I wanted to do today and I’ve touched on nearly all of it.

I started appliquéing the flowers on my Blossom quilt this morning. Before starting though I thought I’d better give my machine a good cleaning; once that was done I oiled it and changed the needle. I had the background squares cut at the Guild last Tuesday but it took longer than I remembered to pull out the basting and paper pieces from the flowers. As a result I only managed to get two done before lunch. I’m using a blanket stitch which doesn’t take long once you are started on it.

Late in the morning I had a message from a woman on Facebook who was looking for wooden embroidery hoops. I first saw the post when I was travelling and said if she could wait until I was home I’d check what I had. Because we aren’t friends, I hadn’t seen her personal message to me so she sent another one today through the original post. We were able to sort things out; I have what she needs and she will come by tomorrow to pick some up. I had the hoops set out for the cancelled Spring Stash Sale so it was easy to lay my hands on them.

I almost finished my book last night and, when I turned out my light, I promised myself some time in the hammock today to get it done. On an earlier trip to the basement this morning I picked another book from the shelf to read next – it is over 1,300 pages so it may last me through the rest of the summer!

We are invited to a vegan pot luck tomorrow to celebrate a birthday. I ran my salad recipe by a vegan-friend and she suggested only one change – agave syrup rather than honey. I needed a few other things as well so I went out to the store to pick them up. Among other things I brought home a couple of pie crusts; Pat picked quite a few apples yesterday and I think I’ll make them into a pie. I’ll wait until morning to do it though as, at this time of day, the house is hot enough. I’ve been thinking of apple pie and cheddar cheese all day.

With what is left of the afternoon I will pick up my cross stitching and move on to knitting tonight. Pat may go to the movies (Star Wars) but I’m not interested so, if he goes, it is chance for me to catch up on some of the shows he watched on Netflix while I was away.