Monday, August 15, 2022

The show at the Hall on Saturday night was excellent. I thought it might be my last “working” show but I think there will be one more before my term is up at the end of September. The duo were ones that Pat and I cancelled due to Covid and it was a real treat to finally have them here. There were a lot of new-to-the-Hall faces in the crowd, as well as a lot of our house concert people. The Hall will be taking over the Home Routes (House Concert) tour for the coming season – there will be work involved but I will be able to just sit and enjoy the shows.

I was full of energy yesterday morning and finished up the September calendar block. When I left off on Saturday I realized I’d made a mistake and had to do one section over. It didn’t take long though and I had it completely done by lunch time. Pat and I ate lunch while we watched a TV show and I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Sashiko project.

I didn’t get much of a start on my day today. Pat was going to Texada and he wondered if I had been able to “fix” his headphones yet. I hadn’t even touched them, and he was actually lucky that I was able to locate them. He just wanted some padding added to the top of them so it was a quick job even if I had to do it twice because the piece I made the first time was a bit too small. They were done in time to take with him.

Our new yard-person was here this afternoon and I felt I should stay handy in case he had questions. His estimate of time was off a bit but, from a distance, it looks like he did a good job. I saw him digging out blackberry roots in one spot and even if it doesn’t get rid of them completely they will have a struggle to start up again. He did a good job of cleaning up after himself. We’ll have him back to do some power washing in a week or so.

While Simon did his thing I sat and played games on my iPad. Not very productive but I don’t think there was anything that really had to get done. I’ll get packed up tonight for sewing tomorrow; I have a Tuesday project that is ready to go so it is just my sewing machine and a few tools that need to be packed.

Saturday, August 13, 2022

It rained overnight and has been cloudy and cool most of the day. I can see a bit of blue sky out right now so I expect the forecast is right – we’re in for more hot weather next week. Sitting on the deck this morning for coffee didn’t happen and I was all set to go out and eat my lunch on the deck but there were spits of rain so I came back inside.

I’ve taken care of some Guild business; I made arrangements for an out of town teacher and did a bit of work with the costs to see how much we’d have to pay for her class. I think it is reasonable and I hope the rest of the Guild does as well.

We have a show at the Hall tonight. It is one of the groups that Pat and I had to cancel at the very start of the pandemic. It is a Hall-sponsored event tonight so I have work to do. I think I have done everything I needed to and I guess if I missed something we’ll manage. I’m looking forward to the time when going to a show simply means going to a show.

With the rest of my day I’ve finished a card and made a start on my next calendar block. I haven’t followed the block suggested in the sew-along; I hope this one turns out better than the one I did last month. Much to my surprise I still have two card blocks left in the series; I think they are multiplying inside my book (much like scraps multiply inside their bins).

I’ve got a bit more time before supper so I’ll get back to sewing.

Friday, August 12, 2022

I am ever so slowly catching up on my task list. With this week’s finish of Ashford Square I have completed everything that was listed on my January UFO list. The quilt with Mum’s fabric is done (scrappy), the Guild Challenge placemats that were supposed to be done for June are ready to quilt (piecing) and Gavin’s Log Cabin was ready in time for his birthday in April (quilting). Now, on to February’s list!

It has been awhile since I spent any time out in the yard. It was cooler today so Pat and I worked outside most of the morning. He pulled a few weeds and sprayed one side of the patio with weed killer; I cleared the weeds from the other side of the patio. I’ve more or less given up on the gardener as far as helping with the weeding; I’m okay with that as long as he will do the blackberries in the rose wall and keep the boulevard mowed.

After lunch I came upstairs and got a card top finished. I thought this was going to be the last one from the book but there is one more to do. I have lots of cards required for September so I expect I’ll get to that last one soon. Last night when I unwrapped my Sashiko sampler I was disappointed to see I have four more sections to do, not the two I thought there were. I know math can be an issue for me but I used to know how to count!

I’ve been making phone calls this afternoon lining up leaders for the Guild classes and demos. All but one have been settled but I had to do some convincing for a couple of the sessions.

I’ll head downstairs now and do some more work on my sampler.

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Finally I got back to my Thursday sewing. It has been almost a month since Gail and I got together and, as you can imagine, there was a lot of catching up to do. In fact all we did was catch up; neither of us did any sewing. I wasn’t there for long so I didn’t plan to do anything. Pat’s truck has been acting up so he wanted to take the car out to Lund for his performance tonight so I had to be home early.

I finished up the last of the 10″ blocks yesterday and today I got another 12″ block done; just one more postage stamp block to go and then they will both be ready to put together for my Circle of Nine class. After the samples are done I may try to get one of them quilted before the “reveal” at the end of September.

I have to start thinking soon about any quilts I want to get done for the quilt show – very soon in fact. I have two that I really want to put in the show and neither one of them is finished. Hopefully when I actually step down from the Hall I’ll have a bit more time for myself.

I’m off now to do some more Sashiko stitching in the cool of the basement.