Saturday, September 25, 2021

The morning was gone before I knew it. Yesterday I dug out some of the items I had set aside for my 12-Days of Christmas packages so today I took a look at my list and filled in some of the gaps. There was a lot of searching for ideas and some research involved but, except for the sewing I still need to do, I have all the gaps filled. There will be some orders coming but for the items I already had I dug out the Christmas wrap and got them ready.

But what was I to do with them after they were wrapped? I was almost finished shredding the bin of Christy’s stuff so I did another load of that and put what was remaining inside a bag. The empty bin became my hiding place for the gifts. I’m not actually hiding them from anyone but I’ve promised myself not to let the spare room upstairs become a dumping ground so everything needed a place. I’ll be ready just in case Canada Post offers their free shipping Tuesdays as they have in the past (when I wasn’t anywhere near ready).

I managed to get six lines of quilting done before lunch.

I ate lunch on the deck; the sun was hot when it was out and it felt good when a cloud covered it. I almost made my way back upstairs when I finished eating but decided that since this will be the last good day for awhile I would sit out and read a bit of my book. As it turns out I finished the book before I came in. The clouds were thicker and a breeze had kicked in by the time I finished but it was quite pleasant out there.

When I came in I stirred the chili pot; Pat made it for supper and left it to simmer on the stove. It smelled so good I decided to make some corn bread to go along with it. That led to cleaning up the kitchen, switching the laundry, making the bed and digging out some yarn for a new evening project.

Our new garbage carts arrived today; the same style as we had in Port Coquitlam more than ten years ago but much smaller. They won’t be as bear-proof as our current container so I’m not sure what we will do; Port Coquitlam made you purchase a lock for the bins. We don’t start using them until the middle of October but it will be nice not to have to purchase garbage tags as we have in the past.

I’m going to try to get in a few more lines of quilting before supper and before the storm arrives.

Friday, September 24, 2021

I finished cutting the fabric for the Guild’s mystery quilt this morning. I took a trip to the “old” fabric shop and purchase a metre of four different fabrics. In the end, I used only one of the fabrics from yesterday and all but one of the fabrics I purchased today. I ran into a couple of quilters at the shop so had a bit of a visit with them. It seems that we will be moving our Guild’s base of operations from the church to the basement of the Legion; from what I understand they are giving us a much better deal and the church has significantly upped their rates.

I can’t believe that is all I accomplished this morning, aside from the usual scanning and shredding of documents. I caught up on my paperwork, although there wasn’t much, and helped Pat download a form for our medical insurance.

This afternoon I mowed what we lovingly call our lawn but in truth it is mainly weeds and ferns. I also cut the boulevard for what I hope will be the last time this year. Those yellow flowers (weeds) look much better in the Spring than they do in the Fall.

It was hot work outside today but I wanted to get it done as there are showers and/or rain in the forecast over the next few days. When I came inside I spent some time reading; I’m really enjoying this book.

I was mistaken as to how much Pat wanted to get over to Texada. I thought as soon as his parcel arrived we’d head out but it seems he wasn’t thinking the same thing. I’m not sure when we will go across – maybe after the weekend for a few days.

I think I have time to sort out some thread for my next quilting project before Pat calls me for supper. I’ll finish up the afghan tonight (for the second time).

Thursday, September 23, 2021

I had a productive morning. After checking my mail and Facebook I did some work on my Guild archives. I’ve been putting off doing them every time they came up on my reminder list but I need to keep at it if I want it done before a new batch of archiving is ready.

I transferred a few photos from my camera and my desktop to my Photos app. A lot of them were the scanned pictures I’ve worked on from Christy’s bin. I’m not sure that they are of any better use in digital form but at least they take up less space. While I was transferring pictures I worked on my website and did some scheduled posts for things I’ve completed but I’m not quite ready to share.

I cut a few more strips for my Guild mystery. I definitely need more variety in my fabrics so after a stop at the library to pick up two more books I headed down to our “new” quilt shop. It is a small space but, although she has all the fabric colours, there isn’t a lot of choice. She has a huge collection of what I would call landscape fabric for art quilts but since they are something I’ll never do I didn’t spend too much time looking. Her prices are either better or the same as I see in the “old” quilt shop. I purchased a couple of meters of fabric that I think will work in the quilt I’m making.

It was such a nice day out that I decided to work in the yard after lunch. The roses had some blackberry bushes growing (again) and I wanted to get them cut down before Spring. I’m either reducing the number of blackberries or I’m better at protecting myself; I had many fewer scratches and bruises when I was done.

One of the projects I thought I was done was my afghan. I made a scheduled post (as it is a birthday gift for November) but when I cleaned out my knitting basket to get ready for a new project I found three more balls of yarn that had slipped out of my basket and rolled behind my chair. Fortunately the pattern is such that I can easily add it it; the afghan was looking a bit small so this will fill it out more.

I have a bin packed with projects for Texada. Pat is waiting on a parcel delivery and, if it comes tomorrow, we will head off for a few days.

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

The weather this morning didn’t look very promising for getting out on the step to sandwich Kathryn’s tablecloth but by lunch time the sun was shining and I got it done. Before I got to that though I did a bit more scanning and shredding from Christy’s bin. I’m making progress and I think I’m about half done.

I ordered the first in a new-to-me series from the inter-library loan program as well as putting a book from our library on hold.

I also did more cutting for the Guild’s mystery. I think I’m going to have to go shopping for some more fabric; I have enough fabric for the rest of the cutting but I don’t have enough variety. There is an advantage to having already made the quilt once; I’d prefer to use only the fabric from my stash but that didn’t work out so well the first time around so I’m being a bit more picky this time.

It was still too early to quit for the day when the sandwiching was done so I started on my latest clue for my Peppermint Purple project. It is a complicated one this week and I’m having trouble getting my eyes to focus on the pattern and then back to the stitching. Pat has an online event tonight and I’m hopeful I can get it finished up before we settle in for some TV.

I finished crocheting my afghan last night and tonight I will darn in the ends.