Tuesday, August 2, 2022

It is so much cooler today that this morning I put on long pants and Pat used the “C” word (cold). It is unusual to see a cruise ship heading north in the morning but the Comox ferry had just left, the Texada ferry was coming in so it had to be a cruise ship out in the Strait. It was cool and windy though so we didn’t watch it for long.

I spent the first part of the morning putting together some kits for the Guild. I brought home most of the Community Quilt fabric in the Spring so it could be put together so it would actually get used. I had already put together a bag and a quilt but, due to copyright issues, I had to re-package them. I’ve been moving fabric for 3-yard quilts from one spot in my sewing room to another but today I cut and packaged up two quilts. Again, due to copyright, whoever takes the packages will have to either have their own pattern book or borrow one of the two we have in the library. There is still a lot of fabric to do something with but at least I’ve made a start.

And speaking of lots of fabric, I finished all the blocks I’ll need for the backing on my own 3-Yard quilt. There are still a lot of scraps in the bin but I’ll cut the pieces down and add them to my own scrap stash.

I went to the Guild bee today to drop off a few things and pick up a few other things. I didn’t sew but it was lovely and cool in the basement room. I should have been there last week when it was so hot.

I have a bit more work to do this afternoon for the Program meeting on Thursday and then I need to go out and deadhead the daisies.

Monday, August 1, 2022

It is noticeably cooler today. I checked the 14-day weather and our heatwave is over – for now at least. As a result of a cooler house I’ve been upstairs working all day but I haven’t sewn a stitch.

I have arranged for a Guild Program Committee meeting here on Thursday. I’ve been making notes since I agreed to take on the job but I decided today I needed to put all those notes into some sort of order. Once my own notes were organized I started to look at the bag of information I received from the previous committee head.

I know I’m picky but I couldn’t see any rhyme nor reason as to how she had organized things. I took everything out of the two binders and various folders; I’ll go through it all and see what I need to keep handy for this year and what can be filed away again (in better order). That task will fill up the rest of my afternoon.

I went out to run a few errands after lunch. I got the items that were on my shopping list in a couple of stops. I needed to make a Hall deposit and put a couple of things into the mail but that didn’t happen because I left them sitting on the shelf in the Hall. And I was so proud of myself just before I went out the door that I had remembered to take the SodaStream canister for exchanging.

Oh – you know that thing I was saying yesterday about one project ’til it’s done? This morning the next number for my UFO Challenges came out and I’m feeling a bit more enthusiastic about multiple projects.

Sunday, July 31, 2022

It’s time for some changes, although I’ve already made a start.

In January, my quilting challenge was to make a quilt using Mum’s fabrics. I had a plan but when I started cutting pieces to fit into that plan I realized I needed a new plan because I didn’t have enough variety in the large pieces of fabric. So I decided to make a 3-yard quilt using the yardage I had. Mission accomplished thanks to our sewing week at Panorama. So the January challenge changed to making a backing for my 3-yard quilt using smaller bits of Mum’s fabric.

Someone at the Guild was making crumb quilts and I thought that would be the way I would do the backing. I’d make 12″ blocks by piecing together bits of fabric in whatever shape they turned out to be. I started out that way but using the little bits was going to take forever so I changed my plan. I’m cutting the fabric down to get the largest piece out of a scrap and I’ll put those together for my blocks. I don’t seem to be making much of a dent in the bin where I store Mum’s fabrics so I’m confident I’ll have lots to complete the backing.

I’ve also decided that I need to see a finish – it has been too long since something was completed. So, once I get the backing put together I’m going to sandwich and quilt this project, no matter what other projects crop up on my to-do list.

I’m doing a bit of the same with my hand stitching. These hot days have me hiding out in the basement and I’m making good progress on my Sashiko. I’m going to continue working on it until it is done; I’ll pick up the knitting, Botanical Garden and Peppermint Purple when I get to them. Deloise may feel I have abandoned her on the “as many projects as you want” front but Stacia has picked up the bad habit torch and, I think, has more than one project and book on the go.

And the biggest change of all is that I have handed in my resignation to the Hall Board. For too long now it has seemed like work and after six years I’m ready to be done.

Friday, July 29, 2022

I just talked to someone on the phone who loves the heat. She’ll be happy today as the temperature outside is 29 degrees and feels like 36. I don’t know what I’m doing still upstairs, except that Pat is on a Zoom chat and I kind of thought I could wait it out. I’ve got a fan going but it really isn’t helping a lot. Or maybe it is and it would be even worse without it.

I’ve been working a bit on my Sashiko project while I hide out in the basement so at least I’m not totally wasting my time. I really feel like I need a finish or at least some measurable progress on something. To that end I decided today to make up some blocks for the backing on a quilt. It was going good while I had larger pieces of fabric but I’ve spent a lot of time sewing bits and pieces together and I’ve yet to complete a block.

I’ve finally managed to find a date and time for my first Guild Program Committee meeting. I had been sending out e-mail messages but sat down this afternoon and made a phone call to everyone. I’m pretty sure I have enough ideas to fill the year so it will be a matter of us deciding when we do the classes and demos and who will lead them. I’m also thinking that some of them might have a class they would like to teach. The copyright issue keeps cropping up so we also need to come to some agreement on how we will handle it – mostly for our Block of the Month program.

Okay, this job is done and I’m heading to a cooler room.