Monday, July 4, 2022

I’m not sure you can count it as progress but I accomplished a few things today.

After doing a bit of tidying up (not in my sewing room) I remembered that my UFO Challenges should be available. I’ve already decided that next year I’m going to stick with just one challenge a month as opposed to three but I’ll struggle on for the rest of this year. My scrappy project is a new one for me – Pinwheels for Caroline. I got the pattern from Stacia and have been doing some of the pinwheels for a miniature version. But I’ve also been collecting squares to make it as is suggested in the pattern and that is the one I’ll be working on this month. It may work as a leader and ender but for now I’ll get a start by focusing just on it.

My piecing challenge is to finish off my Splendid Sampler blocks. I have a few bonus blocks from the original series left to do; there are two bonus blocks from the second series as well as four more blocks. As I’m using these for cards I’ll get the blocks done but set them aside to choose from when I need a card.

I have a huge pile of quilting to get to so I didn’t think adding one more to the list would do any harm. This one is based on a block from a Guild on the Island. Before the pandemic we met with several other Island Guilds every fall. There was always a block and if you made the block your name was put in a bag and you might come home with a full set of blocks. I don’t attend the meetings but I loved the block and made one using colours that our Guild had picked for our Blocks of the Month. The block pattern is from 2018 and my photo is from 2020.

I got the Hall’s newsletter out and did a bit more work forming my Program Committee for the Guild. I had another question I wanted to add to our survey and I heard from the woman who is preparing it; she wants to meet with me tomorrow because she has a new program that she wants to use rather than the one we’ve been testing. I’m okay with however she wants to do it and if changing her program keeps her interested so much the better.

I cleared off my cutting table enough that I could trim a quilt so I’m ready to take it to the Guild tomorrow. I also pulled out some fabrics for my scrappy challenge so I’ll have more than enough to keep me busy. I added a couple of Mum’s patterns to a Cross Stitch Buy and Sell group; I’ve used them before and usually had good luck.

My ironing board is still covered with bits and pieces from my trip but I think I’m making progress.

Sunday, July 3, 2022

Although rain was forecast it didn’t feel like it while we had our coffee on the deck. So while Pat went for groceries I went out and tackled some weeds. I was concentrating on the front patio and I got about half of it done. I’m trying a new method for weed control – spraying ammonia on the roots that I’m not able to dig out. Pat suggested I do the other half using the vinegar mixture and compare them and I think that’s a good idea. Although to be fair to the ammonia side the rain started late in the morning and it is still raining so it may not have had a good chance to work.

I had to go out this afternoon to pick up some cards, make a deposit at the bank and get some gas. It took me three tries before I was able to leave the driveway. I was all set to go and realized that I didn’t have my car keys with me. I found them in another purse and headed out again. When I got into the car I realized I had taken my shopping bag and deposit into the house when I went for my keys and I had left them there. So back in I went to pick those up.

I was able to get everything I needed at one store and I considered that a bonus. We have a couple of new salads to try as well as new soda stream flavours (thank you Kathryn). I got my gas ($50 only gets me half a tank at these prices) and was getting out of the car when I realized I hadn’t gone to the bank. I guess I’ll try again tomorrow.

I was determined to find the missing fabric and pattern today so I shook out all the fabric I bought thinking it might have been bundled inside; no luck. I shook out all the projects I worked on thinking it might have been stuck inside somewhere; no luck. I had pretty much given up on finding it so I started to put a few other things away. When I was looking for a small bin for one of my fabric collections I found the pattern and fabric – I had already put them away in a bin!

So with the kind of day I’m having I’m going to attempt my Botanical Garden stitching for the rest of the afternoon. I still have some reverse stitching to do on the last section I did but I’m confident – well hopeful – that I’ll be able to concentrate enough to move forward. Now, if I can just find the new cross-stitch needles I bought on my trip I’ll be set.

Saturday, July 2, 2022

We had a good view of the fireworks last night; there were a few trees in our sightline but still an enjoyable show.

This morning, after coffee on the deck, I put on my long pants and long-sleeved sweater and headed out to do some weeding. The roses are gorgeous but there were blackberry stems sticking up in several places which limited my enjoyment. Once I got up on the ledge there was a lot of bindweed twisted around the roses but they aren’t as visible from the driveway since they weren’t in bloom yet. Pat acted as my spotter and, because the area had been done not long ago, I was able to clear it out quite quickly. Pat suggested a method to help avoid the scratches I usually end up with; I have a few small scratches but nothing like I ended up with the last time.

I managed to work out my accounting issue today – I’m not sure why it didn’t work out yesterday because it seemed like I was doing the same thing but just in a different order. Whatever, I’m that much closer to being able to hand them off.

I unpacked my travel boxes and was able to put a few things away. I feel like I’m missing a pattern and some fabric but I’m not down to the bottom of my piles so no doubt it will show up. I needed to unpack one of the boxes because it was sitting on my sewing table and I had to clear that off before I could work on a birthday card that needed to get finished. Next issue was finding the actual card top so I could quilt it and get it ready for the mail; I found it eventually but there were a few more items put away while I looked.

We’re going to drive to a restaurant south of town for supper tonight; new owners have taken it over. Pat was there when I was away but I’ve not been. I’ll see if I can persuade Pat to take a detour and check the tide level at Donkersley Beach at this time of day.

Friday, July 1, 2022

After being away from my desk for so long I had time to think about what I would do when I got home. One of the things I was determined to do was to spend more time on the deck. I take all that time to keep the yard looking good (well okay) but very little time outside enjoying it. Since I got home I’ve managed to spend my mornings on the deck. The traffic before the first ferry arrives isn’t bad and I can enjoy the birds and the scenery. After that first ferry comes in the traffic picks up and it isn’t as pleasant.

While I was away I also had a stern talk with myself – I have to get some of my projects finished. I managed to complete two projects while I was sewing at Panorama but I brought home four more that were new starts or ones that didn’t get finished. And don’t even get me listing all the new projects I purchased along the way.

I told Pat this morning that I was going to stop writing and sharing my Journal. He said he didn’t think I should because he still found them interesting. I’ve been doing this for more than 14 years and often, at the end of the day, I don’t feel much like writing anything. I guess it is a good record of my life although some days I struggle to find anything to write about. But if Pat still finds the posts interesting (and he’s living the days with me) I’ll keep it up.

Not surprisingly I came home to a pile of Guild and Hall work to do, not to mention my own papers that needed to be dealt with. I need to fill a couple of spots on my Guild program committee; I’ve reached out to three people and so far I have one positive and one negative answer. If the third one comes back positive I’ll leave it at that but if she says no I’ll have to start looking again. I almost have the Program survey ready to send out; another of the quilters is organizing it and it will go out as an e-mail to the membership. Last night I thought of a couple of things that needed to be changed. I was asking if people wanted to teach a demo or class but the survey is anonymous so if they said yes I wouldn’t have any idea who they were. We are in the process of fixing that now and I hope to have the survey out next week.

The Hall work is another matter entirely. I need to get things sorted out for the accountant and I’m having trouble balancing one of my bank statements. I decided this afternoon that I’d give it a rest and maybe something will come to me overnight. I’m confident that what I say we have in the bank is correct but I just can’t get that amount to jive with the amount on the bank statement for one of the months. Bookings are still going strong for the summer and the sessions that finished up last week all need to be sent invoices. I need to find someone who will take over the bookings or the books but new volunteers are hard to come by.

The boxes of new purchases from my trip arrived the day after I did and they need to be dealt with. I did a show and tell with Pat and managed to get it all upstairs but that is as far as I got. I brought a bin up from downstairs this morning so at least I have somewhere to put the new stuff when I get to it.

I’ve not been able to settle much the last few days but I have managed to catch up on my Peppermint Purple releases. I noticed that I did the last block in the wrong colour but I don’t think it will make any difference in the long run. As of today I’m three behind with my Botanical Garden. It doesn’t help that I did one complete section only to realize that I did it backwards; the coloured thread should have been in the places where I put the green thread. Back to the drawing board on that one.

We won’t be doing any Canada Day celebrating. Pat is doing a recording session in the basement so I’m having to be very quiet. For the first time in years we are going to have fireworks for Canada Day; we’ll watch them from the deck if the trees haven’t grown so much that they are blocking the view.

For someone who thought they might stop posting I seem to still have a lot to share.