Friday, August 19, 2022

While we were in Panorama in June Ron was organizing a garage sale at the lake. Stacia asked if I wanted the old dipper from the well at home and I jumped at the chance to have it. As the days moved on Ron found other pots that he thought I might be interested in. Stacia assured me the pots were either Grandma Erickson’s or Great Grandma’s but that may have been a story in order to switch a few things from the garage sale pile to Sherry’s pile. I do remember both of the pots though so I’m assuming Mum used them for something while I was still living at home.

Today I put those old pots to new uses. One holds my fabric scraps that are waiting to be cut and sorted. Another one holds my mad money (note to my kids: don’t look for it in the cookie tin anymore). While we were at a quilt shop in Cranbrook they were displaying buttons in an old pot and what could be more perfect than the dipper to store my button collection (and it will be so much easier to grab them out for Rummoli).

Thursday, August 18, 2022

I wake up every morning more or less knowing what I’m going to do for the day. But life gets in the way and before I can get to my task list I find there are other priorities.

First off is coffee on the deck and work on a crossword. But the dishwasher needed to be emptied, the coffee had to be reheated and dirty dishes loaded again. After coffee and my crossword I thought I’d better get the watering done. While I was at that I did some deadheading and picked the strawberries. Today’s harvest went right into the yogurt I had for breakfast.

After breakfast I watered everything at the front and did more deadheading down there. My reward was another gladiola and a dahlia. The dahlias we got from Elizabeth are huge!

Finally it was time to get started on what I wanted to do for the day – cut some fabric and get organized for my sewing afternoon. But first there were some e-mails that had to be dealt with and a bit of decluttering that should have been done a day or so ago.

I planned to work on my Home Circle (Circle of Nine) in the afternoon. I was surprised that there wasn’t a lot of cutting involved – just some squares in two different fabrics. I had some time before lunch so I did a step in my Summer Mystery. I’m hoping the hard part is over – figuring out which way up the various pieces are supposed to go. In this case my priority should probably have been cutting up some more Blocks of the Month but I just didn’t feel like it.

I was almost out the door for sewing when I got a call from the man who might take over the accounting for the Hall. I had granted him and our President view-only access to the program I use but he couldn’t figure out how to get into it. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if the problem was on his end. We chatted a bit and he sent me a photo but we didn’t get very far; he is working on a PC and I’m on a Mac so the interface is quite different. We’ll get together in a week or so and try to get it sorted out.

I had a good afternoon at sewing. I might have had the top of the quilt done had I not decided that the arrangement I was using was too bright and I had to readjust. I’ll need to do a bit more cutting before the blocks can be sewn together. There will still be a couple of borders to do but I’m keen to get it finished.

Another hot day today but I’m enjoying my neck fan (thank you Kathryn).

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

I decided I should make a start on the Block of the Month packages I mentioned yesterday. Before I started cutting up fabric I thought it would be best if I cut and sewed the block myself, out of my own fabrics. I’m glad I did because when I got to page two of the instructions there were a couple more cuts I needed to make.

When I moved on to the Community Quilt fabric I noticed that there is a scarcity of neutral colours. So I made up packages and added the note that one more fabric needed to be added. I’ve got five packages done.

I then started to sort the fabric in the bin. There were some heavier cuts that would make good bags to sell at the quilt show and there were quite a few fabrics that would work in a three-yard quilt. I’ll fold the longer lengths and take them along to the meeting and if someone wants to pick three of the fabrics they can make a Community Quilt. We have a Community Quilt weekend in the Program in October so as long as I have it sorted by then I’ll be fine.

It’s too hot to continue working upstairs for any longer. I’m headed for the cool of the basement.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

I started the day at the Guild sewing bee. I have a Tuesday project that requires 77 pinwheels (I love pinwheels) and 77 half-square triangles. It’s been a few weeks since I worked on the project but I made good progress today. I finished making the half-square triangles (although they need to be trimmed) and I cut apart the pieces I need for my pinwheels and started putting them back together. In both cases the pieces are bigger than they need to be and will require quite a bit of trimming.

I always have great plans for the afternoon when I get home from sewing. I had a few errands to take care of and then I was going to do my Guild blog, my own blog, and start some cutting for the Guild’s Block of the Month. I volunteered (I really am crazy) to cut up some of the Community Quilt fabric and put together bags for our members to take home and stitch up. The bags will only contain the strips that are needed (I think September needs three strips) but it was suggested that about twenty bags would be a good number to start with so it will take some time.

But by the time I get home, play a few games on my iPad (to relax you understand) and get my posts finished I have run out of energy. I think it will be a bit more Sashiko stitching and I’ll leave the cutting for tomorrow.