Time for change?

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.

Birthday Trio

June 23, 2022

Open Arms (from The Splendid Sampler 2 series)

It rarely happens that in all the cards I send out to family and friends more than one birthday happens on the same day. But on this day in June we have three birthdays in one day – Tynan, Ian, and Josh. I used the same pattern with different fabrics pulled from my scrap bins.

This is the first set of cards that I’ve used the facing technique on. It still needs a bit of work but I like the finish it gives.

Happy Birthday Jenny

June 21, 2022

Comfort Food (from The Splendid Sampler 2 series)

I’m down to the last few patterns in my book and was happy to be able to associate this one to Jenny. Jenny’s birthday falls on the first day of summer (or the longest day) and it seems to me that an ice cream cone on such a day would be very appropriate.

Too bad I wasn’t able to get that DQ Swirl on the top of the cone, but the strawberry gives it some flair.

Happy Birthday Ray

June 12, 2022

Button Lovers Seahorse from The Fat Quarter Shop (~ 11″ x 11″)

I’ve had this pattern for years (since 2016 actually) and always wanted to make it for Ray. I usually try to find something “fish” related for him because he has the most beautiful saltwater tanks. He has had sea horses in the past but I’m quite sure he has never had a purple one. Do they even exist?

I thought I would be able to find enough white buttons in the right sizes but when I opened my button drawer all I saw was purple. Since there was such a large variety of sizes, purple is what I decided on.

The instructions were easy to follow and, except for sewing on 40 buttons, the project was quite easily done. I considered using my glue gun to stick the buttons down but I’m glad I took the time to sew them.

Because of the weight of the buttons using Soft and Stable rather than batting was recommended. The quilting is simple – the mattress stitch to represent waves in the water. In this case a facing seemed more appropriate than binding.

I added a sleeve on the back so it will be easier to hang.