Tuesday, May 24, 2022

When I looked at my reminders for today I saw that I still needed to clear out a drawer for my neutral fabrics. So I started off with that task. When I tired of doing that (before it was done) I walked up to the letter box and then went out to work in the yard.

I weeded the daisy bed today. There is a big hole where we took out the dogwood but I have no doubt that the daisies will fill in the space. I noticed that there are a lot of blue flowers that have blown in from somewhere. They are quite nice and don’t seem to be spreading too quickly so I left most of them. We have two dahlia’s coming up in that bed although they are a bit further behind than the ones in the pot. This was the last section of the yard that needed to be done so that when I sit on the patio (either upstairs or down) I can relax and not see the work that still needs to be done.

Pat checked on me after he came home from a meeting and we transplanted a hydrangea. The lavender was more or less taking it over so we thought it wouldn’t hurt it to move as it wasn’t doing well anyway. When I asked for a lesson on the weed whacker I found out what I was doing wrong but before I got too far along the brick wall Pat took over. He also pruned a few of the maples while he was out.

There is, of course, more work to be done. I have two spots left in beds that are more or less hidden behind taller plants and I want to get them cleared out. Also I have quite a job ahead of me to clear up the north side of the house.

I finished cleaning out a drawer in the dresser and have my neutral yardage nicely folded inside. That left me with an empty large bin so I moved my 3-yard quilt fabric from a smaller bin into the larger bin and then my flannel scraps into that smaller bin. I should have been inspired to keep shifting and adjusting but I just don’t feel like it. I’ve been spending the time this afternoon dealing with more of my scraps – a never-ending pursuit.

Monday, May 23, 2022

I really wanted to work in the yard today and persuaded Pat we should transplant our hanging baskets into pots. By the time I got my gardening shoes on and headed out the door it was spitting rain so Pat went out and got coffee and some breakfast and I started sewing on buttons.

It didn’t take long for the rain to pass and it has been a beautiful day – one of the best we’ve had this year I think. We got the two strawberry baskets potted on the deck as well as two more pansy baskets. One of our coleus wasn’t doing very well so we transplanted that and hope it takes this time. We have another pansy pot planted at the back door. Hopefully they will all do well.

While we were out we transplanted a dogwood bush. We have three of them in various spots in the yard but this particular one was fighting for nutrients from one of the maple trees. We’ve put it into one of our biggest pots; the maple tree we had in it for several years got some sort of a bug a couple of years ago and we weren’t able to save it. We lost another one as well but so far we haven’t planted anything else in that pot.

There was, of course, weeding that could have been done but I decided to cut the grass instead. Although, as I’ve said before, there are likely more weeds than grass in the yard once it is all cut to the same length it looks pretty good. I was going to give the weed whacker a try but I couldn’t even get it to start. I think it is out of string but I would have thought it would still start. I guess I need another lesson.

This afternoon I’ve been back at the buttons. I’ve got them all attached now – all 40 of them! I wasn’t sure I was going to be happy with the project but so far I’m pleased. I won’t be sewing with the Guild tomorrow but I hope to get it finished at home.

Sunday, May 22, 2022

I finished my little gifts this morning and moved on to a card this afternoon. I’ll be working with buttons on this one so there is plenty of hand sewing to do. Don’t ask me how I ended up with so many buttons of one colour in my button drawer because I have no idea what I was planning to use them for. And what confuses me even further is that I purchased a second card full of the same colour.

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Why can’t it be morning all day long. I’m so motivated in the morning to get things done and I have more (not necessarily better) ideas than I do later in the day.

This morning started with a look at my task list. As I went down the list I saw something I wanted to make as a gift for Elizabeth’s birthday so I checked my fabric, dug out the pattern and set it on the ironing board. One of the fabrics for that project was also suitable for an art project we will be working on at Panorama so more fabrics for that were dug out of various bins.

Then I saw that Ray needed a birthday card and I’ve had a pattern I’ve been saving just for him. I found the pattern and the accessories I needed and that got stacked on the ironing board.

I decided on another project for my June trip but I had to see if I had background fabric that would work with the jelly roll. After measuring a couple of fabrics I found one I had enough of; the jelly roll went into my mailing box and, you guessed it, the fabric went onto my ironing board to await cutting. I also decided I needed to clear out a drawer (or bin) so my neutral fabrics were easier to access – another job on the declutter list.

But before I could start any cutting I needed to clear off my cutting table so I sorted through a few of my scraps and got them cut down to size and put away. But while I was cutting scraps I got to thinking about a little gift I wanted to make for Stacia & Deloise while we stitch together. I found the pattern but before I printed it I needed to change the toner cartridge. I’m a little nervous about making something so small (10 pieces in a 1 3/4″ square) so I set it aside to think about.

And at the end of the day, here’s where I’m at.

• Two projects cut and packed for Panorama
• Elizabeth’s birthday gift cut out
• One gift top almost done (and it worked out okay after a few false starts)