Saturday, March 12, 2022

I had a little bit of Hall work to do today but there were no computer-related tasks so I was ready to move on to something else early in the day. I cleaned out a couple of drawers in my sewing room and I had time before heading out for a hair trim to tie and bury some knots in my April calendar project.

When I came home I started a kitchen task. Pat and I had noticed that we had very little counter space on which to work. From one edge to the next was lined up with appliances – the microwave, the set of knives in a holder, the paper towel rack, the tea chest, the air fryer, the toaster, the mixer, and the juicer. On the other side of the sink we have the coffee pot and our Soda Stream. We use it all but something had to go – if not out the door then at least to somewhere else.

So I started cleaning off a shelf in our pantry. That led to cleaning off another shelf and then a third shelf. Before I was done I had to call Pat upstairs to see what needed to be kept and what I had to find room for back in the pantry.

We put the air fryer into the pantry and added a couple of items to the give-away pile – the urn we used for heating water for tea for the house concerts and a Brita jug that we don’t use. We’ll take the espresso maker to Texada – maybe we’ll use it there. I have a plan for where I’ll move the juicer and the mixer but that involves clearing out our large corner cupboard and I’d already spent more than my allotted thirty minutes on the task.

I have finished the quilting on Kathryn’s tablecloth. It turned out longer than the first one; in fact I think it might be too long. I’m waiting to hear from Kathryn about that. I didn’t have any fabric that would work for binding on the reversible sides; I was going to go up to the fabric shop but she was already closed for the day. I dug around in my fabrics and I’m going to make a two-colour binding. The last time I did this (for her first tablecloth) I made a few notes on my tutorial so hopefully it will go together better this time.

I’ll continue making the binding but I doubt I’ll get it finished before dinner.

Friday, March 11, 2022

Due to the changes in the Public Health Orders announced yesterday I had to spend some time this morning updating the Rental Agreement for the Hall. I’ve tried to make it generic enough that when the Orders change again (as I know they will on April 8) I won’t have many changes to make to the document. I also had to update the Hall’s website, although I don’t think anyone ever looks at it. It took me until after two to get all my decluttering and cleaning tasks done.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday are my quilting days and I started today with the Spring/Summer tablecloth. After I had the machine threaded I wanted to do a sample of the stitch I planned to use but when I started sewing it made an odd (and not a good) sound. I had cleaned it a short while ago so I thought maybe I hadn’t got my bobbin case in the right spot. I took the plate off the machine, reset the bobbin and started again.

I still had the noise. I was thinking I’d have to make an emergency call to the technician we have in town but before I called I thought I’d check everything that I had touched with my cleaning. I was checking the needle when I realized I didn’t have it as high into the shaft as it should have been. When I fixed that the problem was solved.

Even though I didn’t have much time at it I have the tablecloth about half quilted. What did I ever do before I discovered the mattress stitch? I’m hopeful that I can have it finished by tomorrow. I have another quilt in the pile ready to be done so having a quick finish is a good thing; I won’t be ahead of schedule but I won’t be behind (yet) either.

Thursday, March 10, 2022

I must have thought about my Thursday tasks earlier because there was very little on the list this morning. I did a bit more accounting and sent off the Hall newsletter; there was still lots of time before my afternoon quilting date.

Since I had almost finished the top for Kathryn’s next calendar block on Tuesday I decided I’d get that done. I had started piecing the back for it on Tuesday too but hadn’t got far. Both are done now. I even had enough time to sandwich it and get most of the quilting done before stopping for lunch and getting ready to sew with the ladies.

I’m stitching my Guild mystery quilt together on my Thursday afternoons. Gail has a nice big design wall that she lets me keep my project on from week to week. There is at least one more week (maybe two) of sewing before I’ll start looking at fabric for a border.

I’m going to get back to my knitting tonight. I haven’t felt much like it for the last several evenings and I want to be finished with the yarn that I used for Taylor’s blanket. It knits up into soft scarves (there will be six of them) but it shreds so badly that I have fluff all over myself and my chair at the end of a knitting session.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

As expected my decluttering tasks took up more time than usual as I moved all my Tuesday tasks to Wednesday due to the bee starting up again. I did a bit of Pat’s accounting, I got a draft of the Hall newsletter done (although just now I’ve remembered something that needs to go in but that I forgot), I pieced together some batting scraps, put my thread back where it belongs, and worked with more fabric scraps. I didn’t spend an entire 30 minutes on each of the tasks but I did enough that I didn’t feel guilty crossing them off the list.

All afternoon I’ve been working on my two blackwork stitch alongs. The sun coming in the window as I worked was lovely and I really hoped I’d have time to get out in the yard. Pat planted the rhubarb and now we need to get the pots ready for our strawberries. I thought we had one more nice day before the weather turned; that is the case but our temperatures aren’t going to be above ten for the foreseeable future. I’ve been told (very strongly by gardeners) that I shouldn’t be disturbing the beds until it is at least ten degrees as the bees may still be hibernating. Regardless, it is too late in the day to start.

Pat has an online session tonight. I may come upstairs after supper and do some sewing or I may just sit in my chair and play Candy Crush.