Tuesday, July 12, 2022

I had some time this morning before heading off to sew and I thought I would use it to start cleaning the upstairs rooms. I need to move a lot of stuff from the “other room” into my sewing room but first I need to clean up my sewing room. I had bins all over the floor so I started by combining several bins into two larger ones. It is scary how many kits I have that haven’t been started.

With one empty bin I was then able to put all my “almost finished” projects into it. I’ve got four bins that have tops to be quilted – some are already sandwiched so they take more room. I’ve done nothing more since I got home.

I had a good day at sewing. I have all the squares sewn together that I’m going to need to turn into half-square triangles for my Pinwheels for Caroline quilt. I’ll get the pinwheels done before I start on the next 77 blocks I need!

I’ve done a bit more research on the copyright issues and it seems that I’m not going to be able to do nearly as much as I’d like to with the Community Quilt fabric. My plan was to make a lot of 3-yard quilts but I sent a letter off to the company and they say I’m welcome to use the patterns for our charity quilts but I’m not allowed to copy the patterns to give to other guild members. There is no way I’m going to make all of them myself. They pointed me to a website that has a few of their quilts available for download but I’m not fond of any of them. My copyright guru in the Guild says that I can provide the address for the download and whoever wants to make the quilt can then download it themselves. How that doesn’t break copyright I have no idea but I’ll move on. I have another request out to another company and I’ll see what they say.

I sent the accounting for the Hall off today so that is a load off my mind. I’m sure there will be questions but at least all the information has been collected. I sold one of Mum’s cross stitch patterns through a Facebook group I belong to so I got it wrapped and ready for tomorrow’s mail.

There may be time to do a bit more tidying up before supper so I’d better get at it.

Monday, July 11, 2022

I had such a good weekend on Texada, in spite of the weather. Now that I’m home we’re having the warmest day of the year of course.

I spent one day in the workshop cutting the fabric for the Summer Mystery that Stacia, Deloise and I are doing. It took longer than I expected and I’m not sure I have as much variety as I should have but it will be fine to get started with. The last one I did by this designer with the Guild I ended up cutting a few extra strips as I was putting things together. The set up there is great for cutting – the drafting table is a bit higher than my cutting table at home and there isn’t as much “stuff” cluttering up the surface. It’s also a great place for a design wall but I didn’t have anything that far along that I needed to work with.

I spent one evening and one entire day hand stitching. I told Pat that I was done with quilting as I enjoy the hand work so much more. I added though that I was done quilting AFTER I’ve made all the patterns and kits I’ve been collecting for ten years so I’ll be at it for at least another ten before I’m really done.

I came home early today so that I could get a package out in the mail this afternoon. I need to sort myself out for tonight’s meeting although I’m already feeling better about it and our year end than I was an hour ago. I’ve been struggling with one entry that covers our concert ticket sales. Pat and I talked about it over the weekend and I thought of another way I could do the entry. As it turned out I was doing something entirely wrong from the get-go and after I realized that mistake everything worked out. I had notes on the process but, with my earlier mistake, the notes weren’t correcting the problem. I couldn’t settle to any other accounting work until I had that sorted out so now I need to do a quick review of the rest of the accounts and hopefully hand them off tomorrow.

The real work begins now to get the bedrooms sorted out for our company next week.

It was a shock to hear of Dorothy’s passing; although we had been warned it came much faster than we expected.

Dorothy has been in my life for all of my adult years; she and Ken were married for 52 years and I knew her before then. We took a knitting class together at Sears and I was a bridesmaid at their wedding. Dorothy and Ken were among the first people to visit us in Inuvik when Kevin and Christy were just babies.

Dorothy was talented in many other crafts as well. She was a quilter and worked with Serendipity which is the donation wing of the Saskatoon Quilt Guild. Some of her beautiful cross stitching is displayed in their home and she’s done some fantastic hardanger pieces. She never stopped knitting either. Whenever we visited, Dorothy was always working on something new.

Over the years I’ve eaten many meals at Ken and Dorothy’s – she was a good cook and there were always treats at the end of the meal.

I won’t be able to be at the service today but my thoughts will be with Ken and all the family.

Friday, July 8, 2022

We’re heading over to Texada this evening; I’ll come home Monday afternoon for a meeting Monday night but Pat doesn’t have to be home until Wednesday. I hadn’t planned to take any sewing-related projects but I decided to take some fabric and start cutting for Carol’s summer mystery. I was going to reverse her suggestions for background and main colours but after chatting with Deloise we’ve decided that might not be a good idea. I’ll see if I have enough of the fabric that I’ve now decided will be background; if not I’ll have to find more fabric and do more cutting when I get home.

I worked in the yard again today. I was attacking the part of the yard that I’ve decided to “keep natural”. The ground cover (gout weed) is spreading as are the bell flowers. I noticed a few daisies starting in there as well. I’ve left everything except the thistles and the bindweed and may the best flower win. I still have a bit more work to do in the back corner but by letting everything else go wild it isn’t too bad.

After lunch I came upstairs and started working on a card that, if I’m honest, probably should have been in the mail yesterday. I’m ready now to start quilting it so I’ll work on that until supper and it is time to pack up and get in the ferry line-up. BC Ferries have announced a sale on certain sailings and for the 7:40 ferry tonight the vehicle goes for $6 as opposed to $24 on a regular sailing. During the week Pat and I would go for free but because it is a weekend we’ll each have to pay but, overall, we’ll still save some money.