Saturday, April 23, 2022

After my last day of yard work Pat bought me a pair of knee pads. They don’t help me get up off my hands and knees when I’m down on them but they sure do work to stop any sort of discomfort from kneeling on the ground.

When I went out this morning my intention was to transplant the succulents. I transplanted and moved several of them last year and they did really well, spreading themselves through the planter. Unfortunately the alyssum and the California poppies also did well and were invading the succulents. I dragged a big pot from the back patio and started to transplant some of the succulents. It wasn’t long before I determined that the pot wasn’t going to be big enough.

About that time Pat came around to see how I was doing and we decided to transplant the alyssum instead. I still had to dig up a lot of the succulents to get the grass and weeds out of them but they went back in the ground in relatively the same area. I still have work to do out there and I’ll have to keep my eyes open (and hands busy) keeping up with all that I missed in this first go-around.

I don’t actually care how the alyssum does in this new spot. We purchased a few plants a few years ago and they have spread and/or reseeded themselves ever since. If they work in this new spot they might help to keep the other weeds down and if they don’t survive we can always get new ones.

I had lunch on the deck and noticed that the Snowbirds are back in Comox doing their practice runs. They generally fly over Powell River at some point but so far I’m only seeing them in the distance.

I was able to spend some time in my sewing room today. I couldn’t get the binding for my mystery quilt off my mind so I dug around and found some that will work okay. It doesn’t match any of the fabric in the quilt top but I think it is a good choice overall. I still need to purchase some backing fabric. I wonder if my bill at Deb’s shop will be higher or lower than my bill at Ken’s garage.

I almost have another card top finished. Lots of little pieces in this one.

Friday, April 22, 2022

I finished my flutter quilt yesterday so that is my quilting UFO off the list. I did a bit of the hand stitching in the morning, a bit while I waited to leave for my Thursday sewing session and a bit more yesterday evening. On my way to sewing I dropped a package in the mail (your calendar block is on the way Kathryn) and stopped at the bank to make a Hall deposit.

When I started the car I noticed that my ABS and Trac Off warning lights were showing so I worried all the way there and back that something would go terribly wrong. Pat didn’t think it was a serious enough problem that I shouldn’t be driving so I continued on. When I looked at what the warning light meant it didn’t seem too ominous so I waited until today to call the mechanic. The mechanic I use is the husband of the woman who has the wide backings for sale. I always prefer to spend my money at Deb’s but sometimes a cheque simply has to go to Ken.

I’ve been sewing all day with Stacia and Deloise. I got the borders on my Guild mystery. I didn’t have enough of any one of the fabrics that I used in the quilt but I was able to make a smaller border with two of the fabrics from the top. I don’t have anything just yet that will work for binding but I’ll worry about that when it is actually quilted.

Once that was done I made a few more blocks for my Home Circle/Circle of Nine quilt. The blocks are 15″ but they are pretty easy to make. I just have three more to do and then I can put it away until we sew at Panorama. I’ll be shopping for some background fabric when we are doing our shop hop on the way.

My back is sore again tonight – too much standing – but I should get some knitting done tonight. Pat has a couple of online events tomorrow but nothing for tonight.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

The timing had to be just right – sunny weather on a day when I didn’t have to go out anywhere. Today was that day and I worked in the yard all morning. I probably overdid it (but don’t I always) and my hands, wrists and back are feeling the pain. The clouds have moved in and it looks like rain off and on until the weekend so I’m glad I got lots done today. I’ll add a few days a week of yard work to my schedule.

I had a couple of people drop by for some Hall business this afternoon but in spite of that I’ve managed to get three loads of laundry done as well as get the quilting and binding done on my next calendar block. I was in a panic because I thought it might be late but if I get the hand stitching done tonight and get it in the mail tomorrow it should arrive about on time.

Speaking of hand stitching I also have the Flutter quilt that needs to be finished. Pat is online for most of the evening so I should be able to make a start on it. With all these online events I’m not making much progress on my knitting, I’m definitely not keep caught up on my blackwork projects, and some of my decluttering tasks are going undone.

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

I had time this morning before leaving for the bee to sort out some patterns for my May cards. Can you believe that I have ten cards on my list? If I keep up with this months cards I’ll only have half a dozen left in my book to make.

There was a problem with the furnace at the Legion today and we didn’t have any heat. They gave us a couple of space heaters but with such a large room and only a few of us sewing they didn’t help much. We packed up right after lunch just so we could get outside and warm up in the sunshine.

Had we had our “regular” day I probably would have finished all the projects I took along. As it was I almost finished one of them. The “almost” would probably have been a “done” except at the last minute I noticed a mistake and had to take a couple of seams apart.

When I got home it seemed easier to finish quilting the two borders on my project rather than digging out my bee projects. I didn’t get the binding cut at the bee so I’ll get that cut now and attach it so I have some hand stitching to do while Pat is tied up in the evenings. If there is time left this afternoon I’ll get to work on those cards.